


The Chevauchéers

by secooper87



Series: The Child of Balime [40]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Genre: Action/Adventure, Mystery, Suspense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-18
Updated: 2014-03-31
Packaged: 2018-01-16 04:26:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 22,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1331848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secooper87/pseuds/secooper87
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once upon a time, there was a little boy who believed in miracles.  But that boy grew up watching as everyone and everything was taken from him.  And no miracle came to save him.  He grew up.  Lost his faith.  Lost his trust.  And then… SHE arrived.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Got it?"

Zed Square shot Timmo a proud look, tapped the side of his kit. "Locked and loaded into the system." He grabbed up his energy pistol, checking the sights. "One human being. Earth Central really think it's worth it?"

"Better be," Timmo said, syncing his own kit with the data stream on Zed Square's. "Detect, locate, round up. That's the mission."

Zed Square spun around. "Ready, D-man?"

"Let's get it over with," Dave muttered. Checking all his guns, just to make sure they were in working order. "I joined the military to kill things, not to run in and play the hero."

Zed Square smirked. Clapped Dave on the back. "And your heart just keeps getting colder and colder!" Gave a fake shiver. "Freezin' me to death over here."

"Shut up and get the teleport working," Dave said, shrugging Zed Square off. He stared at the view-screen, at the planet below. "You ask me, any son-of-a-bitch can't rescue himself, he deserves whatever he gets."

* * *

The third time it jammed, Dawn lost her temper.

Started kicking and hitting and screaming at the damn public 3D printer thing to "Just work, damn you! Just once! Just now!"

Alison and Seo stood some way off.

Watching Dawn break down, both somewhat amused.

"She can face down Daleks, vampires, aliens, her sister dying, and the end of the world," Alison mused, "but a public model 3D printer on a shopping spree is enough to break her." She looked over at Seo. "I think that says a lot about the universe, actually."

Dawn gave the machine a vicious kick, accompanied by a blood-curdling scream.

Seo tilted her head to the side. "I'm getting the impression… this wasn't what Aunt Dawn expected when she decided to go on a future-style shopping spree."

With one final punch, Dawn spun around. Fuming.

"This," Dawn hissed, "is _not_ a shopping spree! This is just… _evilness_!"

Alison and Seo exchanged a look.

"I mean, when did humanity take one look at shopping, and say, 'hey, I know! Let's take all the fun out of it, and instead leave all the parts that you want to MURDER!'" Dawn screamed.

At which point she vaulted herself back at the public printer.

And resumed her attack.

The whole thing had begun after Dawn returned to London, to help Seo look after Buffy. Alison had watched as Seo and Dawn had spent endless days worrying and waiting, without being sure of what to do or how to help.

It was driving them mad.

Which was when Alison had decided to take things into her own hands. "This time machine of yours, Seo," Alison had proposed, "it can take us anywhere at all, for days — and still drop us back here the second after we left, right?"

Seo had nodded.

"So let's take a holiday!" Alison had declared. "Head off and do something fun. Then, when we come back, maybe we'll come at this illness from an entirely new perspective!"

Dawn had been the one to propose the future-style shopping spree.

But judging by the way Dawn was pummeling the public printer, now, it looked like she was reconsidering her choice.

"It's interesting, actually," Alison mused, looking about herself. "Just from a historical standpoint. Seeing how both 3D printing and online retail will eventually change the entire shopping experience."

"I think it's rather neat," Seo said.

She gestured around herself. At the mall full of stores that promised clothing "designed for standard cartridges!" or the designer boutiques, where you had to purchase not just the design, but also the exotic cartridges and to create clothing and shoes from nonconventional materials.

Alison recalled that Seo had rather enjoyed trying on the trial versions of the different clothes — plugging their codes into the machine and letting the retail store test-clothes-printer whip her out a sample, then racing off to try it on before it all disintegrated, leaving her in the changing room in her underwear.

And then there were the constant flyers and warnings, telling them that 'Only You Can Defeat Clothing Design Piracy!' and warning them that if they pirated the download of their clothing-of-choice, they'd wind up in court, owing credits beyond their wildest imaginings.

"I like that there aren't any shopping bags," Seo said. "Just a download tag, transferred to your account. That's a bit brilliant."

Alison glanced around themselves. "I'm more impressed that the act of purchasing in-store retail is reserved for tourists — and even then, only the poshest ones." She beamed. "I'm finally posh! My parents would be proud."

Seo's face fell.

And Alison realized this was probably not the best time to bring up 'parents'.

"Yeah, well I think it sucks!" said Dawn. Turning back on them, again. "You pay through the nose for stupid fashions that are made out of sub-standard materials, and then you need one of these stupid printer things to actually get it made for you. After you leave the store!" She gritted her teeth. "And none of the public printers work!"

"Course they don't!" said Alison. "I'm guessing — if you're rich enough to go shopping like this, you're not going to bother with an out-of-date public printer. You're going to use your own top-of-the-line printer and do a decent job."

Although… Alison couldn't help but note… that public printer actually looked pretty new. Which was odd, come to think of it. Quite odd.

Dawn's eyes narrowed.

Her body shaking with utter rage.

"Maybe Aunt Dawn's right, and we should just go home," Seo proposed. She shuffled a little. "We've been here for a while, and who knows how Mom's doing without us."

Dawn's anger fell away from her, settling into that similar lost sort of despair that she'd been wearing since she learned about her sister's illness. "Yeah. Let's go."

Oh, not this again!

Ever since they'd turned up, here, every five minutes, they'd been on like this!

"But we haven't even had a proper holiday, yet!" Alison protested. Pointed at Dawn. "Seo and I might be relaxed, but Dawn's still worked up and upset! We can't approach this with a clear head while we're still upset!"

"Buffy might need us," Dawn said.

Alison shoved her hands on her hips. "Back the second after we left, remember? That's the whole point of a time machine!"

Truth was… Alison knew they all needed this.

Some distraction in their lives, so they didn't go mad worrying about an illness they couldn't cure or even properly diagnose.

"I don't think anywhere in the future is going to live up to Aunt Dawn's shopping standards," Seo pointed out.

"That can't be true," said Alison.

"Yeah, there's got to be _some place_ in the future that isn't corrupted by shopping snobs and anti-piracy warnings!" Dawn decided. "There just _has_ to. I mean, for my personal sanity, I need to know that there's one planet that still understands the fun of shopping."

Which was right around the time that one of the touristy street-mimes came over and placed a brochure in Dawn's hands.

A brochure for a mall on a planet none of them had ever heard of.

But it made Dawn's eyes light up, as she began to read about it. All concern and fear over her home situation dissipating, as she enthused, out loud, about every detail.

"Modern fashions, modern styles, modern customer service and convenience, all presented in the typical in-store retail model of the distant past!" Dawn squealed. "Try on shoes! Test out makeup! Wear clothes out of the store! Sort through racks and browse through actual clothing items, without having to access a catalogue. See how your ancestors did it!"

Seo frowned at the disappearing figure who'd given them the brochure. "Anyone else feel like there was something… odd about that street performer?"

"And the trial cosmetics don't fade off your skin after thirty seconds!" Dawn continued, her voice rising with excitement.

"Yeah, but… why?" Alison pointed out. She gestured around herself. "People seem to like it here. You can get whatever clothes you want in any color, any size, and program it into the printer so it exactly fits your body. That's shopping of the future. Why give that up for alterations and hand-browsing and hauling shopping bags?"

Seo's eyes lit up. "It's a mystery!"

"And a shopping spree!" Dawn added. "All at once!"

Alison nodded, very slowly.

Then sighed, as Seo and Dawn raced back towards Oliver.

"So much for a stress-free holiday to get your minds off things," Alison muttered, trudging back to the ship. "Should have known. Only thing that could make you two feel better… is a life-threatening adventure."

* * *

"And that's it," said Timmo, analyzing the teleport control functions. "Looks like we're all charged up and ready to go down to the planet. Get our refugee out of…"

Timmo stopped.

As he noted Zed Square smacking his life sign tracker against his palm.

"Problem?" Timmo asked.

"Tracker picked up some new life sign readings," said Zed Square. Showed it to Timmo. "Human. On the planet."

"New arrivals?" Timmo asked. "I thought everyone knew to stay away from this place."

Dave scoffed. "Darwin in action, anyone?"

"Better pick 'em up, too," Timmo said. "Switch the settings on the tracker. See if you can pick up the energy signature from their ship."

Zed Square did so.

Shook his head.

"Nothing," he said. "Like they appeared out of thin air."

Timmo cursed.

"Trap?" Dave suggested.

"Could be, could not," Timmo decided. "Might just be some stupid snobs out for the shopping trip of their lives." He charged up his gun. "Literally."


	2. Chapter 2

Seo had been expecting serious trouble.

And was, therefore, unspeakably disappointed when she didn't find any.

"I mean, this place was supposed to be spooky, or monster-filled, or mysterious!" Seo complained. "And instead, it's just… stores! With things inside them! Things you can buy!"

"Yeah," said Dawn. "That's called 'shopping', Seo. It's fun."

Seo threw up her hands. "Fun?! The world hasn't even come close to ending, yet! I haven't seen one thing that's interesting or clever. It's just… stuff! On shelves!" She groaned. "That's not 'fun!' It's boring!"

Which was when Dawn had spotted the cosmetics shop, and shouted, "Oh, Sephora-of-the-Future Alert!" And raced off.

Leaving Alison and Seo behind.

"Looks like she's enjoying it," Alison noted.

Seo slumped against the wall. Crossed her arms.

And sulked.

"Oh, come on, it's not _that_ bad," Alison said. "I mean, granted, I'm not the world's biggest shopping fan, but… well… there is something a little neat about trying on different clothing and make up and things, just to see what looks good."

"Not for someone who can't see herself in the mirror," Seo muttered.

Oh.

Right.

"I liked the other style of shopping," Seo told Alison. "The one with holographic fashion projections that dangled in midair, to help you choose the style you wanted. And with attendants hired specifically to cater to your every whim, who'd give you chocolates and fizzy sodas and things, and input your measurements into the computer manually when the scan didn't work, then help you shop for the clothes that would look best on you and describe your reflection to you when you claimed you were blind."

Alison had to admit.

For someone who couldn't see herself in the mirror… that did seem like a better system.

"And anyways," said Seo, "I don't like the clothes, here. They're not made from fabrics and fibers and whatnot. Just… something… else. Synthetic and a bit sticky. When you wear them, they feel… wrong, somehow."

"Clothes feel wrong?" Alison repeated. "Never pegged you down as a nudist."

She was hoping to get at least a smile out of Seo, or maybe a shove, but Seo just sighed. Her head hung.

"I think I should go home," Seo said. "Check on Mom. Maybe something's happened while we've been gone."

And again!

How many times had Alison heard that this shopping trip?!

"No, actually, I think you're right," Alison said. One way to get Seo to stay — play on her curiosity. "Maybe these clothes _are_ made of something different. But what is it? And how is this place still in business when all the customers are staying away from it?"

Seo looked up. Suddenly interested. "You think it has something to do with the clothes? Their chemical composition?"

Alison shrugged. "You're the expert."

Seo's face bent into a frown. A small smile spreading across her lips, as she thought the matter through. "Maybe not the cause," Seo decided. "But I bet… if we could work out what the clothes are… we could at least come up with a clue…" She sprung forwards. "Think we could find a Bunsen burner for sale, round here?"

Alison grinned. "Yeah. Guessed that _your_ ideal shopping spree would involve melting down the clothes in a science experiment." She chuckled. "Never get tired of you, Seo."

Seo beamed. Then sprinted off into the distance. "Be back with the burner!" she called over her shoulder.

Right.

That was Seo preoccupied, least for a little while.

Time to check up on Dawn, make sure _she_ was properly amused and distracted, and hadn't sunk back into depression and misery while Alison had been away.

Besides. If Seo was off having the time of her life burning clothes… Alison figured she could have a bit of girl-style fun, too, with Dawn. See what became popular in future-style make up, and whether it worked with their complexions.

Dawn was trying on different shades of lip gloss.

"Look at this!" Dawn called back to Alison. She raised up the lip gloss. "See, I can put it on, and then, if I want to take it off…" She pressed a button on the tube, and the lip gloss faded from her face. Dawn turned around, smiling. "Is that cool, or what?"

Alison blinked. "What type of lip gloss is that?"

Dawn turned the tube over in her hands. "Sea Breeze," she read. Reapplied it, then studied her reflection in the mirror. "Who'd name a lip gloss 'sea breeze'? It doesn't look sea-y or breezy."

"Makes you look a bit like Barbie," said Alison.

Dawn spun around. "Wait, seriously?"

"Suppose it's a good lip gloss if you like dunking your lips in plastic," Alison mused. She made a face. "Me? Not so into the Barbie look."

Dawn touched her lips. "Oh my God, you're right! It's, like, plasticky and stuff."

"Maybe you could use it when you want to snog someone with really bad breath," Alison proposed.

"Or someone with paralytic lip-gloss." Dawn looked down at the tube of lip gloss twisting it between her fingers. "Where were you when I met John Hart?" She clicked the switch on the tube, to wipe the gloss away. But the switch just fizzled, and nothing happened. "Hey. It broke."

"Can I help you two?" came a creepily sweet voice, from right beside Alison and Dawn.

They both jumped a mile high, as they spun around to face the shopkeeper. A woman with a gigantic fake smile planted on her face, her hair twisted into a perfect bun, so not a single stray hair was out of place. Even her clothes seemed perfectly wrinkle-free.

Something about her put Alison's teeth on edge.

"How do you people keep sneaking up on us like that?" Alison snapped. "It's very annoying."

Dawn raised up the tube of lip gloss at the shopkeeper. "This thing broke."

The shopkeeper took it from her. Examined it, impartially, then nodded. "Oh, yes. They do that." She tucked the tube into her pocket. Then pointed out the door. "Public toilets are out that door, first right. You'll be able to wash it off in there."

Dawn hopped out of the seat, and rushed out the door.

Alison stayed, a moment. Walking forwards, analyzing the different types of cosmetics on display. Her nose wrinkled, her mind racing.

"Something the matter?" asked the shopkeeper.

"Not… the matter, exactly," Alison said. She turned back to the shopkeeper. "The smell. It's… not a very makeup sort of smell, is it?"

"It is for our line of cosmetics," said the shopkeeper, proudly. She gestured at her own face. "I wear it all the time."

Alison sniffed at the air, again. Then picked up a container of blush, sniffing it, too. "It's sort of… burnt… plastic," she said. Set the makeup down. "And the clothes — they smelled a bit plastic too, come to think of it." Paused. "And the way they moved was sort of like plastic. Come to think of it, the way _you_ move isn't exactly naturally, either." She turned on the shopkeeper. "But you're not an automaton — since you can see Seo. So… what…?"

Alison froze.

As the shopkeeper's hand dropped away. Revealing the barrel of a gun, pointed directly at Alison.

"Don't move," the shopkeeper demanded.

* * *

Dawn scrubbed at the lip gloss, in the bathroom.

But… the lip gloss didn't wash off.

No, actually, the opposite was happening. It wasn't being scrubbed off. It was growing. Spreading!

Getting more and more, bigger and bigger, oozing across her face. Dawn began to scrub more frantically, but it just kept spreading, covering her nose, her cheeks, beginning to descend down her neck.

"Help!" Dawn cried, spinning around. "Alison! Se—"

But then it covered her mouth.

Suffocating her. Smothering her. Spreading across her limbs, as dots danced across her eyes, and she struggled to peel it off, punch an air hole, anything! Anything at all!

"In here!" shouted a man's voice.

The door burst open, and Dawn thought she could make out the shadows of three men, in front of her. Then there was a bang sound, and another gooey substance exploded across her, encompassing her, stinging against her skin and pricking at her nerves like a thousand needles…

Dawn screamed.

And panted, on the ground, gasping and struggling for breath.

"Oh, give her some clothes, Timmo!" snapped one of the men. "If she's going to die, she might as well do it with some dignity."

Which was when Dawn realized… she was now strangling-makeup free. And also… extremely naked.

Dawn curled up, her face turning bright red.

Oh, God.

This was not how she'd expected this shopping trip to wind up.

The main guy — Timmo? — tossed Dawn what looked like a jumpsuit, while the frizzy black-haired hot-looking guy behind elbowed the third in the ribs. "Don't tell me you weren't looking," he said, probably low enough that Dawn wasn't supposed to hear. "She's a bit foxy."

The last man just turned away. "I don't gawp at idiots, Zed Square," he said. Switching to a very lethal-looking gun. "Not even attractive idiots."

Then left.

Dawn darted into one of the bathroom stalls, quickly attiring herself in the jumpsuit. God, guys are just… so… guys! No matter what century they're in! Who else would come up with the idea of a clothing-dissolving gun? Of all the…!

Dawn bit back her annoyance.

Whatever the gun had done to her clothes, it had also gotten rid of… whatever that makeup was. And whatever it was doing to her. Dawn zipped up the jumpsuit, and stepped out of the stall. Glancing at herself in the mirror, in the silver-looking jumpsuit.

Okay. So now she looked like a meatloaf wrapped in aluminum foil, she had nearly been smothered by Barbie Lip Gloss, she'd been struck with a clothing-dissolving gun and then leered at by a bunch of guys.

This was so not Dawn's day.

"And now that you're decent," said Timmo, "I think it's time you told me what you're doing here, and what, exactly, you think you're playing at."

"Excuse me!" said Dawn. "You're the ones who got me naked! I was—"

"—in the middle of full Nestene Metamorphosis," said Timmo. "There's only one cure for that, and we administered it. Just in time." He analyzed her, a stern look on his face. "You're looking at me like you have no idea what I'm talking about."

"Basically?" said Dawn. "Yeah. I've got no clue."

Zed Square chuckled. "Typical. I used to think that, too. Never knew 3D printers switched from printing things in plastic to using other materials for a _reason_." He turned, strolled out of the bathroom. "Not until I found out about _this_ place."

Still… no clues.

No idea what they were talking about.

"This is a quarantine zone for a reason, Ma'am," Timmo said. "The Nestene Consciousness has been trying to expand across the Empire for nearly a decade, now, and our quarantine is the only thing keeping it at bay. All you've done, by coming here, is to supply it with a ship and a chance to—"

"What the hell is a Nestene?" said Dawn. "I thought this was a shopping mall!"

Timmo gave her a cold stare. Then turned on his heels. "D was right," he grumbled. "You really are an idiot."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ten points to anyone who knew what a chevaucheer was before reading this chapter!

Alison stared down at the gun barrel jutting out of the shopkeeper's hand.

Barely daring to move.

"The Consciousness is interested in you," said the shopkeeper. "And your friends. Your ship is… different."

Alison didn't react.

Just couldn't shake the feeling that she'd seen this before, somewhere! Plastic people springing to life, guns in their hands, threatening to—

"Oh, wait, I know this," said Alison. "You lot are the ones who invaded London in 2005, right? Moving shop-window dummies. I remember that."

The shopkeeper didn't seem any the wiser.

Just kept the gun aimed right at Alison.

"Is… there any reason you're threatening _me_?" Alison asked. "Or are you just sick of me asking nosy questions?"

"The Consciousness is trapped," said the shopkeeper. "The Consciousness must leave. Two persons are needed. One to morph, carry the Nestene outside the barrier. And an organic element, required onboard your vessel when we depart, so the quarantine system surrounding this planet will let us through. You are the organic element."

"I'm…?" Alison started. Then froze. "Wait a tic. What about Dawn? What about Seo?"

"The brown-haired girl will morph, fuse with the essence of the Consciousness," said the shopkeeper. "The other is of no use to us."

A chill ran through Alison. "You mean you're gonna kill her."

"Yes," said the shopkeeper.

"Well… well… you can't!" Alison insisted. "She's the one who flies the ship. None of the rest of us know how. You can't—"

"The Consciousness has observed you three," said the shopkeeper. "You, organic, are clever. You will find a way. Help us to spread. Or your use will be at an end. And you will—"

The shopkeeper turned white-hot.

Then exploded into a shower of droplets splattering through the air. Alison dove for cover behind a makeup stand, shielding herself from the impact of the melting plastic body.

"Stuck on a hostile alien planet with two gorgeous babes," said the guy with the gun, just behind where the plastic woman had been standing. "Think I lucked out on this mission."

"Planning to 'decontaminate' this one, too, with that gun of yours, just in case?" said a second voice. This one a bit too cold for Alison's liking.

"Love to, but Timmo would shoot me for it," said the first bloke. He stepped forwards, into Alison's line of sight. Offered her a hand up to her feet, which Alison accepted. "Zed Square. Best on duty. Best in the Empire." He winked. "Best with the ladies."

"All that, and not at all full of yourself," Alison commented. "Impressive."

Zed Square gave her an even wider grin.

He wasn't half bad looking, actually. Heavy-duty military type, sure, but the muscles were a definite plus. And the—

" _You_ ," said the other one, suddenly looking very alarmed.

Alison glanced over at him. Shot him an odd look. "You all right?"

"He's fine," said Zed Square. He spun around to his friend. "Hey, D-man. Why don't you go take that sunny disposition of yours and use it to light up someone else's day?" He put an arm around Alison's shoulders. "I'm busy here, at the moment, saving my gal…" He glanced at her.

"Alison," said Alison.

"My gal Alison," Zed Square said.

The one dubbed 'D-man' stayed a few moments longer. Staring at Alison, a blank look on his face. He opened his mouth as if to speak, then stopped.

Shook his head.

And headed off.

"Don't mind him," said Zed Square. "Great soldier. But a serious killjoy." He started to lead her away. "Now. Why don't you show me where your space ship is, so we can get you two out of here and on your way?"

"Us two?" said Alison. Then realized, "You found Dawn! What happened to her? That shopkeeper said she was going to turn Dawn into some sort of hybrid—"

"Yeah, but we fixed her up," said Zed Square. "Nothing to worry about."

"And Seo?" said Alison.

Zed Square stopped in his tracks. "There's… another one?"

"Three of us," Alison confirmed. "Seo went off looking for a Bunsen burner. She suspected something was off about this place the moment she arrived." Bit her lower lip. "She better be all right. That plastic creature said it wanted to kill her."

Zed Square checked a little machine down on his belt. Swore. Then gave Alison a fake smile, and led her off. "Why don't I reunite you with the friend of yours we found, earlier?"

* * *

"Okay, okay, go slower," said Dawn. "So you're saying this planet is currently being invaded by the… Nestene Consciousness? Which is an alien who can control and psychically manipulate anything made from plastic?"

"Invaded?" said Timmo, with a laugh. "Invasion's already been and gone. This planet is Nestene. Has been for years, now."

Dawn's jaw dropped.

"You didn't know?" Timmo asked. Skimmed his eyes up and down her. "No. Must be too young. It was all over the media, way back when." He snapped his eyes forwards. "Still. You'd think, after you saw the quarantine, that you'd know to stay away. But I guess that's kids for you."

"Then why are you here?" said Dawn. "Are you guys, like, the beginning of a wave of troops that'll crush the Nestene and reclaim the planet for Earth Empire?"

Timmo flashed her a look of mild surprise. "Where've you been? The military hasn't worked like that for decades."

Dawn blinked. "Oh."

"Nope, we're just your average band of chevauchéers," said Timmo. "I mean, there's still an Earth Central Command, don't get me wrong. They're the ones who sent us on this rescue mission. But Earth Central's basically powerless. No one listens to a word they say — except us, apparently." He grinned. "You're lucky we showed up."

* * *

"Chevauchéers?" Alison said. "What, you mean like those medieval knight groups, during the Hundred Years War, who raced about the French countryside raiding and causing chaos?"

"I'm not a historian," Zed Square replied. "But yeah. That sounds basically like what we do. Scout the outer reaches of the Earth Empire. Cause chaos in neighboring independent worlds, weaken them from the inside, sabotage and subterfuge. The planet crumbles, infrastructure collapses, indigenous society falls apart. Which is right when Earth sends in colonists and uses that to rebuild the planet in our own image. And so Earth Empire expands."

Alison made a face. "And that's what you do? What the human race does, at this point? Invade planets by stealth and then uproot the indigenous population? That's… that's…!"

She wanted to say horrible.

Except the more she thought about it, the more she realized… that was exactly what her species had always done. All the way back to those early explorers discovering the Americas.

"We should be above that sort of thing by this point in our history," Alison amended.

"Don't knock it if it works," said Zed Square. Adjusted his gun. "This isn't a typical mission, of course. No idea why Earth Central sent us, but at least they're paying us." He shrugged. "That's Earth Central for you — completely powerless and completely nuts."

* * *

"Geeze, no wonder this planet fell to the Nestenes," Dawn muttered. "You guys have no central military power behind you. You're all just scattered and random."

"Saved your neck," Timmo pointed out.

Dawn still thought it was kind of a disgusting system.

"Look, I don't like it any more than you do," Timmo admitted. "I'm one of the only people you'll meet in the army who remembers how it used to be. Before World War IV and the military collapse."

"World War… Four?" said Dawn.

A shadow passed over Timmo's face. The scars of a time he didn't choose to remember. Couldn't bear to recall. Then he blinked, and it was all gone.

"Zed Square and Dave — they're good soldiers," said Timmo. "Chose them myself. Right men for the mission."

"And what _is_ your mission?" came a familiar, English-accented voice. "If not to stop this 'Consciousness'?"

Dawn spun around, to find Alison and Zed Square, coming forwards. Looking like the best of friends — or maybe something a little more than that.

"One of the Autons spilled their plans to her," Zed Square reported. "I got intelligence for the quarantine block like you wouldn't believe."

"Good work," said Timmo. "Transmit and give D backup. He'll need all the help he can get." He gestured at Dawn and Alison. "I'll get these two back to their ship and on their way."

"That's the thing," said Zed Square. "According to Alison, they arrived here with three people."

For a moment, no one said anything.

"I see," said Timmo, very slowly. "And there's no—?"

"Check for yourself," said Zed Square, tossing him a small machine. "Not a blip. Not a hint. Nothing."

Alison and Dawn exchanged a quizzical look.

Timmo looked at the machine. Then nodded, tossing it back. "Transmit the data, then strike out. Give D as much backup as he needs. I'll be with you two soon as I can."

Zed Square saluted, then raced off.

"Hang about!" Alison called, trying to race out after him. "I'm coming, too!"

But Timmo caught her fast, and pulled her back. "Hate to say this, Ma'am," he said. "But your friend is dead. A Nestene Metamorphose. Nothing left to do but take her out."

"What?!" Alison and Dawn both shouted.

"We only got five life sign readings," said Timmo. "Three of us, two of you. Your friend is no longer alive. If you've seen her moving around, it's only because the Nestene Consciousness has replicated her. And if you two don't get your ship off this planet, now, she could—"

"You're going to kill her," Alison realized. "Just because she doesn't…" Alison clenched her jaw, and tried to struggle out of Timmo's grip.

"Wait, what…?" Dawn said.

"They think Seo's plastic," Alison told Dawn. "Because their machines don't pick her up. They're going to vaporize her, Dawn! First chance they get!"

Dawn's jaw dropped open.

"If there are no life signs, it means the Nestene's taken over," Timmo said. "There's nothing you can—"

"She's _never_ given off any life signs, you idiot," Dawn snapped. "She's Seo. Machines don't pick her up! It's the way she's made!"

"Which means she's inorganic," said Timmo. "I don't see the problem."

"She's not inorganic, and she's not one of these… Autons you keep going on about!" Alison insisted. "She's a living, breathing person. Just like us!" Alison managed to wriggle out of Timmo's grasp, and regained her footing.

"We gotta find her, first," Dawn said. "Warn her."

They both darted forwards, fast as they could. And ran right smack into an energy barrier.

"You two are civilians," Timmo said. "You're staying with me. No matter what."


	4. Chapter 4

"Plastic polymers," Seo muttered. She grinned, as she analyzed the data she'd gathered from her latest experiment with the melted clothing. "But very odd ones. Almost as if this kind of plastic was designed to be easy for some sort of higher sentience to inhabit."

She tilted her head.

Yes, it was beginning to come clear to her, now.

Just what sort of creature this had to be. Who'd decide to design something like this, and what that said about their existence as a whole.

"Telepathic gestalt," Seo guessed. "With some sort of affinity for plastics." She glanced at the structure surrounding her. "Course, this building looks like it's built mostly of steel, so it must have been built by humans. Then taken over, later. Either an invasion going on by stealth… or perhaps, since there's no one here, the invasion's already—"

The blast of the gun just barely missed her, as Seo rolled out of the way.

Sprung back to her feet, to find a whole group of plastic shopkeepers, their hands dropped down to reveal gun barrels, all advancing on her, steadily.

"So I was right," Seo said. Backed away across the changing rooms, hands in the air. "Ever notice that whenever you're really, really clever about something, people always start shooting at you? I'm beginning to think it's a universal law of the cosmos."

They responded by shooting at her, again, but Seo jerked the changing room mirror off the wall, and shoved it in front of her. The beams slammed off the surface of the mirror, reflecting back and striking two of the monsters in the chest, melting them instantly.

The others kept advancing on her.

"And… nowhere to run," Seo said, looking at the small alcove of changing rooms around her. "Note to self. From now on, perform all science experiments that might reveal evil monsters… in a place with a back-exit."

One of the shopkeepers tried to grab the mirror out of Seo's hands, but Seo used its grip as a lever, yanking the mirror up and whapping the shopkeeper on the head. Then leaping over it and sliding down the other side, to run in the opposite direction.

The other shopkeeper raised its hand to fire at Seo.

But that was when a thin man, blond with a boyish face and the most soulful, deep-looking eyes Seo had ever seen, stepped forwards. And blasted the shopkeeper apart.

The other shopkeeper had managed to drop the mirror, and turned.

But was blasted apart as well.

"Thank you," Seo said. "My name's Seo. Do you have any idea what those…?"

The man pointed the gun squarely at Seo. His lips in a thin line. His stance no less aggressive.

"You," the man growled. "Give me one good reason not to blast you into atoms right now."

* * *

"Listen, you don't understand!" Alison insisted, throwing up her hands. "Seo _is_ organic. She's just dimensionally complicated. That's why your machines won't pick her up."

Timmo stared at them. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"Contact those other two guys," Dawn urged. "Tell them to stop shooting! Or just let us out to find her ourselves! We're good at surviving alien stuff like this."

"Good enough that you both needed to be rescued from a gruesome death," Timmo pointed out, "and almost caused the destruction of the human race!"

Alison stepped back. "All right. All right! So maybe we do need some help with this one. But so do you! Seo can help you defeat the Nestene Consciousness. Regain this whole planet. But if Seo dies, you'll have no hope."

Timmo sighed. "Ladies, I don't know just how delusional you are," he said, "but I know how this works. Trust me, your friend's already gone. No doubt about it."

* * *

"You've got till the count of three," said the man, gun still pointed in Seo's face. "One… two…"

Seo sprung at him, jerking his gun up so that he fired into the air.

Then shoved him over, and raced for the door.

Pushed her way out of the dressing room, and bolted for the exit to the shop. But before she could leave, there was a loud clang, and a steel bulkhead dropped, trapping Seo inside. Seo turned, and noticed the man with the gun coming closer to her.

"You know I'm not one of these plastic creatures," Seo told him, raising up her hands. "Or you'd have shot me without a second thought."

"I can see through your human disguise, alien," the man spat.

The venom in his voice on the word 'alien' told Seo all she needed to know about his attitude towards non-humans.

Right.

She had to throw herself out of the way of his shot at the last minute. Diving towards a bunch of display racks, hoping he wouldn't be able to hit her as she zipped through the store's hung-up clothing.

"Listen — whatever aliens you've dealt with before, I'm not like them!" Seo offered. "I'm part-human! I'm friendly, and—"

Seo stumbled, as the flash of his disintegrator gun encompassed rack after rack of clothing. Vaporizing the forest of dresses and shirts and blouses in order to get to her. She needed somewhere to hide. Needed some kind of plan. Needed…!

"You were traumatized by aliens and need to lash out," Seo tried. "I understand that! My mom is dying, and I want to lash out, too! But killing me won't be vengeance. It won't help you move on."

"Mind-reader, huh?" said the man, vaporizing another rack of clothing. "Telepath?"

He vaporized the rack right in front of Seo, revealing her in plain sight. Charged up his gun, again, for another blast.

" _You_ are," Seo offered.

That made him falter. Just a bit.

"I mean, you can't read people's thoughts," Seo said. "But you found me without a life sign reader. You could tell I wasn't human. You've got a little bit of telepathic potential — enough to feel minds, even if you can't read them."

"Liar," the man growled.

Seo backed away, slowly. Watching, as he advanced towards her. "You don't really want to kill me," she said, stepping beneath a hat display, dangling with wire from the ceiling. She was far too short for her head to brush the top. "Or you'd have done it already."

Her back thudded against the steel of the bulkhead.

"I really do," said the man, stepping forwards so he was directly in front of her. His gun right in her face. "But I want to look into your eyes as I do it." His voice dropped even lower, as he took another step towards her. "You're going to feel fear, alien — the way my family felt fear before aliens murdered them. It's what you deserve."

Which was when the plastic-looking hat from the display that brushed against his hair sprung to life, and grabbed him up by the head.

He yelped.

His grip loosening on the gun.

Seo darted forwards, snatching it from his hands, and then raced away. Shifting around settings, and using it to blow a hole in the bulkhead.

"Sorry!" said Seo. "Got to go! Have friends to rescue, and a mom to…"

Seo stopped.

Watching, as the plastic hat seemed to melt across his body, rushing across him and absorbing him into a plastic death. His eyes still looking at her through the oozing plastic dripping down and trapping him there.

Beautiful eyes.

Terrified eyes.

"Why do I always fall for the homicidal maniac?" Seo chided herself, as she ripped apart the gun in her hands. "Why can't I just walk away and let someone who tried to kill me get what he deserves?"

She plucked out a vial from the gun.

Then raced forwards, towards the man, and smashed the vial against the plastic covering his arms.

The plastic suddenly howled out, as if in pain, receding back from the man and Seo as if by instinct. Seo grabbed up the man by his arm, and yanked him free.

"Time to go!" Seo shouted, as she turned and ran the other way.

They both piled out the hole in the bulkhead, and then began to run down the hallway of the mall. The man stumbling behind her, trying to catch his breath.

"You… you…" the man began.

"Just saved someone who wants me dead?" Seo filled in. "So I did. Really have to stop doing that. Gorgeous eyes or no, me and murderers never wind up working out."

"But you're an alien," the man protested. "Aliens hate humans!" His voice became dark, icy. "They live only to kill, conquer, and destroy! They don't…!"

Seo could already see the other shopkeepers emerging, their hands dropping to reveal gun barrels.

"I _am_ human, thicko," Seo snapped at the man behind her. "Told you. Part human! Mom's whole side of the family is human, and I definitely don't want to kill, conquer, and destroy them!"

The shopkeepers began to run after them.

Opening fire.

Seo dragged them man with her towards the lift. Punched the button, the doors pinging open instantly. Then bundling him inside.

"Up!" Seo shouted, stabbing at buttons. "Up!"

The doors shut, just before the shopkeepers caught up with them.

And the lift began to ascend.

"Those Autons will catch up with us the moment we—" the man started.

Seo lunged for the control panel, then slammed her hand on the emergency stop.

The lift ground to a halt.

Seo panted, clutching the wood rail at the back of the lift, trying to catch her breath. "Metal floors, glue-down carpet, metal buttons," she explained. "Only place I could think of with no plastic whatsoever."

The man stared at her. Unsure what to say or do.

"So you've trapped yourself in an elevator," the man clarified, "with someone who wants you dead. Surrounded on all sides by Autons, who also want you dead."

Seo sighed, slumping against the wall. "It's really not my day, is it?"

The man said nothing.

Couldn't take his eyes off her.

"Look, if you're going to try to kill me, again, just get it over with!" Seo snapped. Preparing herself. "But I took away your nasty gun, and I'm stronger than I look."

The man coolly brought out another, smaller gun. "You took away one of them."

Seo froze.


	5. Chapter 5

"Look, if you're going to try to kill me, again, just get it over with!" Seo snapped. Preparing herself. "But I took away your nasty gun, and I'm stronger than I look."

The man coolly brought out another, smaller gun. "You took away one of them."

Seo froze.

The man thought about it. Then lowered the gun, so the barrel pointed at the ground. "Dave," he confessed. "My name's Dave. And I'm one of the five remaining members of the Pachoran Slave Cluster."

Seo blinked.

Wondering if that was supposed to mean something to her.

"Timmo knows; Zed Square doesn't," said Dave. "Neither do most people. They just think I'm your average colony kid with a grudge."

"Your colony was taken over by aliens?" Seo guessed. She could conjecture what had happened after that. Most of the colonists wiped out. The rest enslaved. He'd said that his family had died terrified, hadn't he? "I'm sorry."

Dave didn't answer. His eyes still fixed on her. Realizing… "You have no idea what the Pachoran Slave Cluster is."

"I'm… from a long ways away," Seo said. Cringed, as she caught the skeptical look in his eyes. "All right, actually, I'm from Earth. But I don't really keep up with current events. Would you like some chocolate?"

The intended distraction of the chocolate bar didn't faze Dave in the slightest.

He still seemed skeptical, but explained, anyways.

"The aliens only took the children," said Dave. "Because children couldn't fight back. They could break us in as their mules, and there was nothing we could do about it." His eyes went dark. "I grew up enslaved at the Pachoran Rechortia. A cosmopolitan area of Pachoran space, crowded with alien filth. I grew up learning every trait about every alien species out there, and what kind of disgusting, degrading jobs I had to do to keep them happy."

"Oh, you grew up in a Rechortia!" Seo cried. She actually _did_ know what a Rechortia was. "A Rechortia — a gathering point for criminals who are trying to get away with horrible crimes. I've seen wanted posters advertising high rewards for anyone with information on where any of the alien Rechortia are located."

"Yeah, well, I'm no help with that," said Dave, with a cold laugh. "The Pachoran Rechortia is gone. I destroyed it."

Seo said nothing.

But wrapped up and put away her chocolate bar, hurriedly.

"I was twelve," said Dave. "They thought I was broken. They thought I was stupid. They assumed all their talk about doomsday weapons was going right over my head."

"But you understood it," Seo realized. "Stole one of the devices. And killed them all."

Dave gave her a pointed stare. "I gathered up a rebellion," he countered. "Got all the other human kids there working with me. We took the aliens down, locked them inside, and blew them up while we got away. Fifty kids against thousands of aliens. And we still won."

Seo shook her head. "Fifty? But you said you were one of only _five_ …"

She stopped.

Noticed the dead look on Dave's face.

And guessed at what must have happened, next.

"You and your freed-slave friends didn't make it to Earth," Seo said. "None of you had ever flown a space ship before. You lot crashed, and when you did… instead of working together to get home… you all turned on each other."

"The aliens taught us how to be monsters," said Dave. "Cold. Ruthless. No compassion or pity. Destroying anyone who defied you. That's the reputation of the survivors of the Pachoran Slave Cluster. So inhuman, we can't even feel."

Seo looked at him, sadly.

"Did you try to stop it happening?" Seo asked, quietly.

Dave didn't answer. His face was blank.

His eyes weren't.

"You're not heartless," Seo pointed out. "If you didn't care about anyone else, you'd have left your friends to die in the Rechortia when it exploded. But you didn't. You brought them with you."

"And learned that, at the end of the day, the only person you can trust is yourself," said Dave. "And your gun."

His hand tightened around the gun at his side.

But it still remained pointed at the ground.

"I learned… there's never any rescue coming, Seo," said Dave. "No one there to bail you out when you get into trouble. No one you can trust when you get into a scrape. No such things as miracles. The only way to survive is to look after yourself. And kill every bastard out there before they manage to kill you."

" _I_ saved you," Seo offered.

Dave looked away. "You tried to kill me, first," he retorted, with real vehemence. "You knew the Nestene Consciousness could get into plastic. You lured me under that hat deliberately."

"Excuse me!" Seo said, surging forwards, pointing her finger in his face. "You were trying to vaporize me, remember? For no reason! I tricked you, then rescued you. Then I offered you chocolate!" Pressed her hand against her chest. " _I'm_ not the villain, here!"

"No," said Dave. "You just don't make sense. Saving people!" He scoffed. "If they can't save themselves, they don't deserve to live."

Seo groaned. "Would you stop lying, for once?" She grabbed up the life sign detector from his belt, held it in front of him. "You're here looking for life signs. Tracking them down. Doesn't matter what you say — you're still here to rescue someone."

Dave didn't answer.

"Who are you rescuing?" said Seo. "Me? My friends?"

"You three blundered into the way," said Dave. "We're looking for someone else. Someone with information."

"There are no other life signs on this reader," Seo pointed out. "Whoever it is must be trapped somewhere shielded." She dropped her arm. "How could you hope to…?"

Then stopped.

Realizing…

"That's why _you_ were sent on this mission," Seo said. "Because you can track minds. Without a life sign reader."

Dave didn't answer.

"Who are you looking for?" Seo asked. "Why? How did this person manage to survive this long without the Nestenes getting to him?"

Dave shook his head. His face stony.

Didn't answer.

"You can tell me," Seo offered. "You need my help, after all." She gestured at his clothes. "Your uniform and technology is old and patchy enough that I know you're not part of a centralized military powerhouse. This is a small-scale rescue mission, carried out by a ragtag militia force."

"Chevauchéers," Dave corrected. "Not militia."

"If you tell me what's going on, I can help you," Seo said. "And since you're a small group with no backup coming in, going up against a whole planet — you'll need my help."

Dave thought about it a long moment. His eyes locked on hers. His stance rigid, but a bit of tension falling away from around his lips. The hints of a smile on his face.

"And what could you contribute?" he asked — his voice turning gentle, almost teasing. "You don't even have a gun."

Seo shook her hair so it fell behind her shoulders. "No, but I'm clever," she told him. "Because I've worked out that there's something very wrong with this place. And very wrong with your mission."

A bit more of the rigidity in Dave's face faded. He seemed vaguely intrigued. "Explain."

"This 'Nestene'… it's a living consciousness inhabiting plastic, right?" Seo guessed. "At least, I gather as much. From what I've seen." She gestured around herself. "This place would have seemed ideal. A shopping mall created back when 3D printing was limited to the manipulation of plastics. And, judging by the way it seems to have thrived, the other conditions on this planet must have been exactly what the Nestene needed in order to flourish."

"Everyone knows that," said Dave. "The Nestene Consciousness is why 3D printing shifted so drastically away from plastics."

Which meant that Seo had guessed correctly.

"So if all that is true," Seo continued, quirking an eyebrow at Dave, "then why is the Nestene Consciousness so eager to leave?"

Dave went quiet.

"It's still trying to lure people here," said Seo. "Hand out flyers on other worlds, to invite us to come. You weren't surprised that people had wound up on this planet, so I'm betting my friends and I aren't the first. This Nestene of yours is trying to get out of here."

"So it can find human-populated planets," Dave said. "Invade them, instead. We've had Nestene invasion attempts on Earth since the 1970's. They want to destroy us."

"But why?" Seo asked. She stepped forwards. "They want plastic. Not people. Just plastic. And everyone else has taken measures against the Nestene Consciousness — changed the whole way 3D printing works, to make sure plastic didn't dominate your lives. Set up this blockade around the planet… manned by volunteers, yes?"

Dave nodded.

Seo had figured as much. If there was no military powerhouse around, it'd have to be volunteers.

No wonder other people before Seo had managed to get past the blockade.

"Which means the Nestene doesn't really have anywhere else better to go," Seo said. "And, aside from all that — if the Nestene _had_ wanted to simply invade and conquer, anyways — don't you think the one on this planet would have sent out a beacon into space, asking his friends to join him?"

For the first time, all tension fell away from Dave's face. As he honestly thought this through. Tried to puzzle out the questions Seo had posed.

"You're definitely clever," Dave told her. "I'll give you that."

Seo beamed.

"But you're still a contradiction," Dave said, raising up his gun a little. "Part human, part alien. How can I be sure you're really on my side? You could be lying. Trying to protect the Nestene, let it out to consume humanity. You could be trying to trick me."

Seo's beam fell. "You're never going to trust me, are you?" she asked.

"I don't trust anyone," said Dave, turning away from her, towards the door. "It's how I've stayed alive this long."

Seo opened her mouth to reply.

But was interrupted, as the elevator juddered. Then began to creak back into life, descending towards the floor they'd come from.

Seo stumbled. "What…?" she said.

"Not so clever after all, then," Dave replied. Seeming completely calm and at-ease. "I heard the hum of the motors warming up while you were chattering on. Someone wants to get at us. My team. Or the Autons." He grabbed out, snatched her up by the arm in a punishing grip. "So it's time for some insurance."

Seo gritted her teeth. Glaring at him. "Is that your solution?" she said. "Throw me to the Autons and hope that'll appease them? I thought you were better than that."

Dave didn't answer.

The cold, rigid look had entered his face, again. And, as the elevator pinged, and stopped, Seo could see that he'd gone back to being the man who didn't care and didn't trust.

The doors slid open.

Revealing a young-looking man wearing the same ragtag uniform as Dave, his skin dark and his face full of a zeal for life.

A gun nestled in his hands.

"Beside you, D!" the young man shouted, blasting with his gun.

The blast nearly hit Seo, but Dave, still gripping her arm, yanked her out of the way just in time. The energy seared the back of the elevator, melting the walls a little beneath its heat.

"Zed Square," Dave greeted. His voice cold and emotionless.

"D, what the hell are you…?" Zed Square shouted.

Dave didn't even wince, as he pulled the trigger on his own gun.

And blasted Zed Square right in his chest.

Seo cried out, as the young man collapsed onto the floor. "You didn't have to do that!" she shouted. "He was human. You knew he was human!"

Dave let go of her arm. "He was my friend," he said, walking over to the fallen man. "My team. But I always make sure I can turn on my team in a second, if I have to."

"You'd kill your friends and not even care?" Seo snapped.

"It was a stun beam," Dave countered, with a shrug. "Zed Square was going to kill you the moment he found you. I knew it when we started descending. He'd have seen only one life sign in the elevator, which meant the moment he saw you and me, together, he'd assume you were an Auton." He checked vital signs, then gave an approving nod. "Help me move him into the elevator. He'll be safe, there, until he wakes up."

Seo didn't know what to say, for a moment.

"You… did it to save my life?" Seo asked. Went over, helping him drag his friend into the elevator car. "I thought you said you couldn't trust me."

"I can't and I don't," said Dave, as they dropped Zed Square inside the elevator. He then stepped back outside, and played around with the gizmo Zed Square had used to get the lift working, again. "But I owed you one. And I always repay my debts."

"Oh," was all Seo could say, as she followed him out of the elevator.

Dave pressed a few more buttons, and sealed the doors. Then dragged the elevator up a half floor, before yanking Zed Square's gizmo out and cutting power to the motors.

"Besides," said Dave, pocketing the gizmo, his eyes fixing back on Seo. "I like you. You're… interesting."

There it was, again.

That little smile, on his face, like a break in the clouds. Or a crack in the armor.

"Is that your way of saying you're accepting my help with your mission?" Seo asked.

"So long as there's a gun aimed at you the entire time, just in case," Dave replied, altering the setting and pointing it at her. "It's on lethal, now. Not stun. I won't use it to kill you, but I'm not taking any chances."

Seo swallowed, hard. "I… see."

"Or you can decide not to come on this mission with me," said Dave. "Go back to your friends, get off this planet, and never see me again. I won't shoot. It's your choice."

Ah.

Oh, dear.

"This is you trying to actually be nice to me, isn't it?" Seo guessed. She sighed. "You really don't have a clue."

Dave didn't answer.

"What if your finger slips on that trigger," Seo asked, "or something startles you, or you get scared and don't realize what you're doing? You could shoot me accidentally."

"What if I don't have this pointed at you," Dave countered, "and you trick me, again? Betray me? And I can't defend myself?"

"I won't."

"I'm giving you a choice," said Dave, firmly. "If you don't like the gun, you can forget about the mission and leave this planet. It's up to you."

Seo looked deep into his eyes. Weighing the possibilities, carefully. Trying to work out what to do.

"I'll come," Seo decided, at last. "Even let you point a gun at me the whole time. But you have to keep the safety engaged."

Dave frowned.

"It's just a little bit of trust," Seo said. "You can flip it off in seconds, if I turn on you."

Dave thought it through.

Then clicked the safety back on. "You win, Seo."

Seo smiled at him. "I usually do," she replied. Gestured ahead of her. "Now. Which way do we go to rescue this mystery-man of yours?"


	6. Chapter 6

"Zed Square?" Timmo said, into his communicator. "Zed Square!"

Nothing.

Timmo swore, then flicked a button. "Dave. You picking up? Can't get Zed Square on the comms."

No answer from Dave, either.

Timmo set down the comms equipment. "Something's happened to them." He flipped around with settings on his life sign reader, but his expression was no less grave. "They're still registering as human, but neither is responding."

"Maybe they just don't want to hear what you have to say," Dawn offered.

"Or they could be in a communication dead-zone," Alison said.

Timmo shook his head. "It's Dave," he muttered. "Always knew he might turn on us, someday. That's the risk of the Pachoran Slave Cluster kids — best fighters, but they'll gun you down in a second."

He checked his guns, then strapped one over his arm. Turned back to face the women, indecision written across his face.

"Whoa, wait!" Dawn cried. "You're going out to mow down your own team member?"

"If it comes to that," said Timmo. "We got a mission. And I'm here to make sure it's fulfilled. No room for traitors or lunatics in this chevauchée group." His face turned into a deep frown. "Only question is… what to do with you two?"

Alison and Dawn looked at one another.

"I should leave you somewhere safe," said Timmo. "But if Dave's cracked, only safe place for you is with me and Zed Square. Someone who can defend you."

Dawn crossed her arms. "Excuse me? I don't need defending! I fought against—"

Alison elbowed her in the side. "Just play the damsel in distress," she whispered. "It's the only way he'll take us along to rescue Seo!"

Dawn shut up.

Timmo thought a moment longer. Then made his decision.

"Stick by me," he warned Dawn and Alison, making sure that one was on either side, both always in sight. "Don't trust anyone you see. Don't trust Dave. And if we do find your missing friend, remember that she's an Auton, now. She's better off dead."

Alison tried to hide a smirk. "Right…"

As they headed off.

* * *

Dave knew exactly where he was going.

He could feel it in his mind. Like a beacon he could follow, calling out to guide him.

He tried to focus on that. Tried to make sure he was grabbing on as tight as he could, with both hands, tried to narrow his thoughts to his mission and blasting apart any Auton he came across. But he caught himself staring at… her.

No.

Focus!

So she was attractive. So her skin was smooth and silky, her eyes bright and shining, her cheeks bending in those beautiful little dimples and her hair gleaming beneath the overhead lighting. So maybe she had the kind of body with the kinds of curves and dips that meant Dave wouldn't be too disappointed if someone wound up using the clothing-dissolving gun on her.

Maybe all that was true!

But what did it matter? Dave had seen lots of hot women, before. That Dawn was a hottie, too. And he'd managed to focus on his mission just fine — even when she was naked.

They were all people. And people were traitors.

Alien. Human. Male. Female. People were always the same. They'd manipulate you, twist you around their little finger, then turn around and stab you in the back.

Seo was the same.

So… why… did he keep looking at her? Why did his mind keep drifting back to her? Why did he feel like every time she gave him that friendly smile… something inside of him was crumbling apart?

No!

Dave snapped himself back to normal. She was alien… partly. He knew how _they_ were. Exerting psychic influences or sending out chemicals and pheromones to try to lure in suckers. Dave wasn't a sucker.

Despite that… he still didn't know why he'd let her come with him.

Nor did he know why he went along with it when they walked past an Auton, and Seo lowered his arm and gave him a stern look that warned him not to shoot. Didn't know why he indulged her, creeping past the Autons and remaining silent, instead of killing the alien bastards dead.

"Are you really going to keep that gun trained on me the whole time?" Seo whispered, when they were half-way there. Creeping down an employees-only stairwell, their feet a gentle patter. "I'm not going to betray you."

"I only have your word for that," Dave replied.

She stumbled on the next step down, and he caught her. Steadied her with one arm, then shushed her and pressed her close to him, both of them against the wall, as they heard footsteps above.

An Auton.

The footsteps paused. Then a door opened, and the Auton left.

For a few moments, they listened to the silence. Waiting, carefully, to see if it would be broken. Or if there were more Autons, lingering nearby to catch them.

But there weren't.

Dave knew it.

He nodded at Seo, and they crept back into the stairwell.

Continuing their descent downwards, towards the lowest basement of the shopping complex.

"You don't want me to get hurt," Seo argued, as they continued. Gave a small laugh. "And I've noticed you carefully positioning yourself around me so that if the Autons shoot, they'll kill you, first, and I'll survive."

Dave didn't answer.

Didn't have any answer to give.

Not even when those soft hands of hers closed over his, around the gun. And she looked deep into his eyes.

"So what's it to be?" she demanded. Pointed the gun directly at her own chest. "Either you trust me enough to put that away — or you kill me right here, right now. Your choice."

"I don't trust you," Dave answered.

"But you're not killing me," said Seo.

Dave's eyes narrowed. He prodded her with the gun. "Let's get going."

But Seo wasn't moving. Her face had settled into a stubborn little frown, her eyes bright and beautiful. "That supposed to make you feel big? Great-big-muscular you pushing around short-little me?"

He was bigger than her.

But she made him feel small.

"I haven't given you away so far," Seo said. "I've helped you more than once to avoid death-by-Auton. If I was going to betray you, I'd have done it by now."

Dave shook his head. "That's not been my experience," he said.

He'd seen betrayals. Too many. He knew that every traitor had different triggers. Different things that made them realize they'd lost the gamble, their bluff had been called, and it was time for the end-game scenario.

Seo shifted her hands so they were around the trigger. Her whole face stern.

"Either you put the gun away," Seo warned, "or I press the trigger myself."

Dave blinked at her. Then shook his head. "You wouldn't," he said. "You're not an idiot."

"No," said Seo. "I'm just trusting you to stop me. Because you don't want me to die."

"Who says I'd care?"

She raised her eyebrows in that way that made her whole face come alive. "You're someone who doesn't believe in rescues, trust, or hope," she said, "but you're here on a rescue-mission. I know what that means. You've got too many deaths on your conscience already."

She flipped off the safety catch with her thumb, then began to exert pressure on the trigger.

"You want me to trust you," Seo hissed. "So I'm trusting you. But are you going to trust me back?"

Dave didn't know why he did what he did next.

He blamed hormones. Chemical imbalances in his brain. It was because she was pretty, and in that moment, he felt like he'd do anything to just make her stop glaring at him, make her give him that beautiful smile.

Dave should have shot her.

But he didn't.

He re-engaged the safety. And holstered the gun.

"I wasn't going to shoot you," Dave said, with a sigh. "I don't see why it's such a big deal."

"The fact that you were making me trust you not to shoot me," Seo said, "while you didn't trust me enough to let me walk on my own without a gun against my back?" She quirked an eyebrow. "Really? That didn't seem remotely unfair to you?"

"You nearly killed me, when we first met," Dave pointed out. "I have every right to be wary."

Seo ran a hand down her face. "Nope. You really don't get it. Not one teensy, tiny little bit."

So they continued.

And she was right — she was helpful. Clever. Fast on her feet and even faster with her mind. Even as they were ambushed by the Autons, at the bottom of the stairs, and had to race away at high speed, zig-zagging to avoid the shots, Seo was still able to think. Dragged him towards a series of complex-looking machinery, and just stood there, challenging the Autons to shoot.

They didn't.

"You are surrounded," one of the Auton shopkeepers told her. "Surrender. Or we'll kill you."

"And risk hitting this machine?" Seo asked. She looked around herself. "I don't know what it does, but you were very careful to try to herd us away from here, back when you were chasing us. I don't think you want it damaged."

Dave reached for his gun, and Seo, without even having to look down, grabbed him by the wrist and stopped him from doing so.

"Which is interesting," Seo continued, "because the power source here seems to be leading in the same direction we were planning to go. Whomever this prisoner is, you're fueling a lot of power in to him. You keeping him alive as some kind of trap for us?"

The Autons lowered their arms.

Then turned, and walked away. Losing interest in Seo and Dave, completely.

Seo frowned. Her mind clearly racing, trying to think through what this might mean. "I wasn't expecting that. I wonder where they're all going?"


	7. Chapter 7

Timmo finally managed to override the thing that was jamming the elevator, and it was starting to whirr back into life. Opening its doors with a soft, "Ping", to reveal Zed Square.

"It's D," said Zed Square, double checking his weapon. "He's flipped. Gone complete nutcase on us. No idea how, but he's with the Autons. Shot me to protect a blond one."

"That's Seo!" Alison cried. "And she's not an Auton. She really _doesn't_ show up on life sign scans."

"Seriously," Dawn agreed.

Zed Square and Timmo both exchanged knowing looks.

They'd heard it all before.

"This 'Dave' was your friend," Alison continued. "I know he seemed a little cold, but… he didn't seem the sort to turn traitor against the human race and start killing you all. Wouldn't it make more sense to assume he'd worked out that Seo _isn't_ an Auton, and was stunning you to stop you killing her?"

"If he was a traitor," Dawn agreed, "he'd probably have just killed you. Not stunned you and dragged you somewhere with no plastic around."

This made both Zed Square and Timmo hesitate.

Honestly consider that maybe they _didn't_ have all the answers. That maybe their team member _wasn't_ a traitor. They were more ready to believe Dave was himself than that Seo was herself, after all…

But it was interrupted.

As they spotted the cluster of Autons — nearly every one in the store, Dawn guessed — all marching towards them. Gun hands raised and pointed at the group.

"You will take the Consciousness off this world," they demanded.

Zed Square swore. "Vastly outnumbered. And cornered with nowhere to go."

"Are you kidding?!" Dawn shouted. She grabbed at those around her, dragging them inside. "Elevator! Come on!"

They only just had time to shut the doors and get it moving, again, before the Autons arrived.

"Dave's heading to the lowest basement level," Zed Square reported, checking his life sign scanner. "Employee side. This lift doesn't get there, but… bet we can get close, with some mechanical pizzazz from yours truly."

"Then let's hope he's still on the same mission we are," said Timmo. Nudged Zed Square. "Get working."

* * *

Seo laid a hand on Dave's shoulder, as they stared past the corner, at the place Dave knew the target was located. Their mission.

The one they'd arrived to rescue.

"I was right," Seo whispered. "Something's very wrong."

But Dave wasn't listening to her, anymore. There were five Autons pacing the perimeter, some with their backs facing him, none seeming aware of him or even looking anywhere near where he was hiding.

Easy shots.

And this time, even Seo seemed distracted enough that she didn't notice as he pulled out his gun.

"All that power, all that machinery," Seo went on. "It's creating a force-field around that dome. A plastic-reinforced dome. And the lock to the door is on the outside. In fact… none of the Auton guards are even facing us!"

"Good news for me," said Dave.

And shot all five in a row, just like that.

Their bodies melting away into nothing, in a sear of white light.

Seo rounded on him, snatching the gun away, her eyes blazing. "What is wrong with you?" she demanded. "That make you feel good, shooting someone in the back?!"

"They weren't someones," Dave countered, easily. "It was better to blast them while they were unaware. Otherwise, it might have turned into a hostage situation."

Seo gritted her teeth. "They were very aware," she insisted. "They weren't facing us, because _we're_ not the threat." She pointed, emphatically. "Your so-called 'hostage' didn't hide away, praying someone would save him. That's not a barricade he constructed to hide himself from the Autons — it's a prison. The Autons locked him in there! That's why they're trying to go off-world. Whatever and whoever's in there, the Nestene Consciousness is terrified he'll get out. That's the biggest threat."

"Then it's a good thing he's on our side," said Dave, yanking wires out and disengaging the force field. He fingered his last remaining gun, just in case. It was a projectile gun, standard bullet-firer. But it'd work, in a pinch. No use in his taking risks, after all. "If nothing else, he is human."

"Humans can be just as cruel as aliens," Seo replied, coming up behind him. "Crueler. You know that, too."

He did.

But he'd trust a human over an alien any day. Even a really pretty alien, like this one.

"Do you want to find out what's in there?" Dave asked her.

Seo paused.

And Dave knew he'd gotten her weakness spot-on.

"You could walk away," said Dave. "Never know. Or you could help me by blasting away the plastic prison, and letting us inside."

"And if I don't, you'll find a way to get in there, anyways," Seo guessed. "With or without me." She shook her head. "You'd trust this imprisoned stranger that you know is dangerous with your life, but won't trust me further than you can shoot me?! What's next? Deciding black is white and up is down and reality is actually run by a giant hamster called Melvin who wants us to bring him cheese?"

Dave turned to her.

Waited.

Seo looked down at the gun in her hands. Then sighed, and pointed it at the plastic dome. Searing it with white heat until the plastic melted into nothing.

Revealing a large, metallic dome underneath.

Seo disassembled the gun, quickly, then threw the pieces across the room. "A prisoner," she said, "whom the Autons are scared enough of that they sealed him away inside a faraday cage, a layer of plastic, and a force field. You sure you want to rescue this person?"

"That's the mission," said Dave, walking towards the door, easily. Undoing the lock mechanism with a little lock-pick gadget he'd been given by a high-up at Earth Central. "And I follow the mission."

The door clicked unlocked.

And Dave walked in.


	8. Chapter 8

The area was smallish, dimly lit but still humming with electricity. The area had clearly been assembled into something resembling a living quarters, with a makeshift bed and toilet to one side, a food replicator against the far wall.

And a very large amount of machinery crowding every available corner.

"Visitors!" came a croaky-sounding voice, from the far end. Dave sensed movement behind the machinery, but his eyes were still adjusting to the change in ambient lighting. "Oh, how long I've waited for this day."

Seo squinted, as she entered.

Stepped inside, just enough that the light from the outer world wasn't gleaming in her eyes, and she could adjust to the dimness of her new surroundings. Her eyes skimming over the machinery, taking it all in.

Then her eyes widened, her breath caught in her throat.

"Close the door!" she shouted, turning around and racing back to shove at the door, as the hum of the machinery intensified around them. "Faraday—!"

There was a clap of sound.

And Seo screamed.

Collapsing to the floor.

But she'd closed the door in time.

Dave had his last gun out in seconds, leveling it at the strange man he'd come to rescue. "What did you do?" he demanded. "Tell me. Or you die."

The man emerged.

He was ragged. An older man, with salt-and-pepper hair and a long, scraggly beard. His eyes peering at Seo's fallen form, a small smile sprouting on his lips.

"It couldn't be," he said. "Could it? Is it possible?"

Seo groaned, clutching her head.

"Professor Gordon Trinch," she hissed.

The man laughed, delighted. "It _is_ you! Oh, this is an added bonus," he said, rushing forwards. "Thirty years, and you don't look a day older. What species are you, child?"

Dave fired a warning shot.

And Professor Trinch stopped in his tracks. Raised his hands.

"I'll ask you again," said Dave. "What did you do to her?"

"Apparently, not nearly enough," Professor Trinch answered. "That pulse should have killed her completely. But she appears to still be alive. Must need to recalibrate."

Dave turned the gun and shot at the heart of the machine.

It sparked, and the humming died down.

"Well, there was no need for _that_ , young man," Professor Trinch said. "I'll only repair it, again. I did build the thing, you know."

"And even if you repair it, you'll kill no one," Seo breathed. Trying to get back to her feet, but still dizzy with pain. "I… closed the door. Resealed the faraday cage. The pulse can't get out."

But Professor Trinch had now turned his eyes to Dave. "And you," he said. "You look familiar, too. Like a scientist I knew once. A David… Walter…"

Dave felt his heart stop.

"Korjensky, that was it," said Trinch. "David Walter the second. A brilliant physicist. We worked together, briefly." His eyes gleamed. "So you must be… the third! His little junior. I heard your whole family had moved off-world."

Even Seo looked up at the name.

Staring at Dave as if it meant something to her.

"I don't care if you knew my family," Dave replied, his voice icy and quiet. "They're nothing to me. You're nothing to me. I could kill you in a second, and never think twice after I'm done."

"What? Because I almost killed sweety over there?" Professor Trinch shook his head. "She isn't even fully human, David. An alien. They're all the same."

Dave didn't answer.

"That's your justification for wanting us all dead?" Seo demanded. "Or is it more? Is this personal?"

The Professor turned on her. "You destroyed my life's work!" he spat. "You and that wretched aunt of yours. I could have reunited Earth as a military empire, given us the power to wipe out our enemies with no effort at all! But then I was overthrown and discredited, turned into a laughing stock… by a _child_! Some meddling teenage busy-body who _wasn't even human_!"

Seo tried to stand, but her legs gave out. "So it is personal. You didn't build this for the Autons. You built this to kill _me_."

"Look at what Earth Empire has become," Professor Trinch sneered. "Chevauchéers trying to coerce the natives to acquiesce to being part of our empire! Our military using weapons and uniforms so old they look like something out of a carnival! Our population — a cesspool of alien impurity."

Seo gave a shaky laugh.

"Families like yours make me sick," Professor Trinch said, pointing at Seo. "A human _sleeping_ with an alien?! What about the sanctity of marriage? What about their corrupted children, with their altered moral values — mutts and half-breeds trying to push moral depravity onto vulnerable human children!"

"Oh, sorry; you upset that you were outsmarted by a girl?" Seo said, with a fake pout. "An alien half-breed?"

Professor Trinch looked like he was about to throttle her with his bare hands. But Dave took another warning shot, and the Professor backed off.

"What _is_ your problem, boy?!" the Professor snapped. "You know what I'm talking about. How the aliens corrupt. You were one of the ones taken by the Pachorans, weren't you? They murdered your parents while you watched."

Dave remembered it.

Could still see it vividly, burned into his mind.

The night it happened. The night his world ended.

"You're pure-blood, David Korjensky," said Professor Trinch. "Pure human. That's why you survived! You are everything we could be — everything we _should_ be — if aliens hadn't contaminated our gene-pool. A highly evolved human being."

Dave didn't say anything.

"It's why you survived when the others didn't!" Professor Trinch continued. "Why you and only five others weren't murdered. You were normal; everyone else was flawed. Contaminated by aliens! The corruption turned them into inhuman monsters, destroying everything you'd worked for."

"And your machine is supposed to fix that?" Seo gritted, finally managing to stagger to her feet. "Find any bit of alien contamination and sear it out of people's skulls?"

Dave faltered with the gun.

"Imagine if I'd gotten out of here sooner," Professor Trinch told Dave, moving steadily closer to him. "All your friends. All the Pachoran Slave Cluster, made better, again! Just one flip of a switch, and everyone's purified from alien influence. All at once."

Dave really did hesitate, now.

Thinking about all those people he'd considered friends, everyone who'd turned on him…

Could this have saved them?

"By seeking out any living alien consciousness," Seo said, "and burning it to cinders. What would have happened to me if it had been calibrated correctly? Melted-brains-soup?"

"Shut up, half-breed," Professor Trinch said. "You don't matter." He turned back to Dave. "He matters. Purity. Humanity."

"And a little bit of telepathy," Seo added. "Just a smidge that's been around since the little David Walter from my time, the five-year-old playing with legos and plastic model space ships in Chelsea, 2009. I've seen glimpses of it." She went over to Dave. Put a gentle hand on his arm. "You knew the Korjensky family _well_ , didn't you? Well enough to know what Dave went through on his home planet. To know how his mind works. Well enough to lure him here in a trap so you could correctly calibrate your machine — because his mind works exactly the same way as that machine does. That's how it finds mental consciousnesses — because Dave senses mental consciousnesses."

Professor Trinch, in a moment of rage, threw himself at Dave to try to grab the gun and shoot Seo on the spot, and it was only because Dave had been so thoroughly rattled before that Trinch nearly managed to succeed.

The gun shot, wildly, into the air, as they wrestled for it.

Then Seo cried out, wincing as she clutched her shoulder, and it proved the distraction Dave needed to regain the upper hand. He yanked the gun away from Trinch, then rolled to his feet, kicking the other man down onto his knees.

Dave held the gun barrel directly at Trinch's head.

He could feel his finger tight around the trigger. And he was only just barely holding it together enough to not pull it right now.

Without looking back, his eyes still hard and cold on Trinch, he asked Seo, "Are you all right?"

"Bullet grazed my arm," Seo said. "I'll recover."

"Shoot her between the eyes, boy," Trinch snapped at him. " _She's_ the real enemy. Aliens like her destroy humans! Massacre…!"

"You brought the Nestene Consciousness here," Dave said. "Didn't you?"

The words lingered in the air.

A silence falling around them.

"This was a populated world, once," Dave continued. "The Autons showed up out of the blue. Massacred everyone. I read the brief." His eyes narrowed. "But the Autons kept you alive longer than all the others. Because you brought them here. Helped their invasion to succeed."

"I needed to test out my machine," Professor Trinch pleaded, trying to get up. "They had a consciousness. I had a consciousness destroyer! I just needed—"

Dave kicked him back down. "To recreate the universe in my image?"

"Your mother had the same dream," Professor Trinch said. "We knew each other long before she married your father. She gave me the scans of your brain! Gave me everything I needed to eliminate the aliens among us, destroy the—"

"Shut up!" Dave shouted. His whole body was trembling, now. All except the gun leveled at Trinch's head. "I don't care about my family. My heritage. Anything that happened before I was born!" He pointed at Seo. "She's part-human. Your machine was supposed to kill her. Do you really think I'm stupid enough to not know what that means?"

"I'm purifying humanity," said Professor Trinch.

"You're killing _everyone_ ," Dave growled. "Anyone not a hundred percent human. And this was your test run. You sold out the humans, you sold out the aliens. Of course you're somehow entwined with my life — you're just as much a traitor as everyone I've ever known."

"Think about what that harpy's done to you, boy," Professor Trinch urged. "A pretty alien face, and suddenly, you're compromising your very humanity for—"

"The sooner you shut up," Dave interrupted, "the less chance of me failing my mission by killing you, here and now." He leveled cold eyes at Professor Trinch. "Now get up. You're coming back to Earth Central with me."

"You're kidding!" shouted Seo, grabbing Dave by the arm. "Look at him. He's a maniac."

Dave sighed. "A maniac and a traitor. But who isn't, these days?" He shrugged. "Turn him over to Earth Central. Or put a bullet in his brain. It makes no difference to me."

"If you put him in a position of authority, on Earth," Seo warned, "even just symbolic authority, then millions — billions! — of innocents are going to be massacred!"

"That's not my problem," said Dave. "It's Earth's problem. They're the ones who get to decide what to do with him."

Seo stepped back. Her eyes leveled at Dave. "I trusted you," she said, in a very low voice, "to make the right decision, David Walter Korjensky III. Trusted you with my life, and the lives of billions of people." Her eyes narrowed. "And you don't _dare_ betray that trust."

Dave's mouth formed a thin line.

He didn't answer.

"Leave him here, to spend the rest of his days raging impotently in his little self-made prison," Seo commanded. "Let the Nestene Consciousness escape this world. Or so help me, I'll find you across every point in time and space and make sure you _never_ perform another heartless act again. Do you understand?!"

"Yes," Dave said.

He hadn't even thought about his agreement.

But he knew, the moment he said it, that he meant it.

"You can't escape here if you wanted to," Professor Trinch said, with a gruff laugh. "She shut the door! The automatic locking mechanisms will have kicked in. We're stuck together, all three of us, for the rest of our lives." With a menacing look at Seo. "Which, in some cases, will be extremely short."

Dave looked as if he was about to say to hell with the mission, and shoot the man anyways.

Then he looked at Seo.

And lowered the gun.

"There are others coming," Seo told Professor Trinch. "They'll let us out."

Dave shook his head. "Why wait for them? I told you before — I don't trust anyone." He nodded at Trinch. "And I definitely wasn't about to trust our lives to _him_." He checked his watch. "I thought it might be a trap. So I made sure, if the door wound up locked or closed, it'd open again at exactly the right time."

The hands on the clock moved.

"Now," said Dave.

A heavy clunk resounded through the door, and Professor Trinch leapt for his machine. But Dave was ready for this. He leveled a shot at the retreating Professor, a howl of pain indicating that he'd hit his mark. Then, one arm around Seo, he ushered the two of them out of the metal dome.

"You didn't have to shoot—!" Seo shouted.

"Oh, make up your mind," Dave muttered. "You want me to save everyone or not? He was about to kill them all!"

"I needed to make him think he still had the upper hand!" Seo hissed. She raced over to the force-field equipment, frantically trying to wire something up. "There were three barriers on that prison. Now there's just one. You think he won't get out?"

"So you're saying I should have killed him stone dead," Dave said.

"No, I'm saying you should have made him think he'd won!" Seo snapped. "I told him the others were coming to open the door on purpose! So we'd have time to deal with him." She broke a wire with her teeth, then wound it around a cable. "Now he'll be desperate. You didn't hit anything vital in that machine, and it's been calibrating to you the whole time we've been in there. He'll know we're up to something, out here, to stop him! He'll make sure—"

The metallic door to Trinch's prison didn't stay closed.

As a shockwave blew it off its hinges.

Seo grunted, tumbling to her knees, as she struggled to make the last connection. And the force-field seared into place.

Dave ran over to her. Helping her to her feet.

The energy pulse from the weapon still played along the outer-shell of the barrier.

"That won't last long," Seo said, her voice sounding weak. "It's a lash-up job, and he's giving his machine full power. He's been waiting for this moment a very long time."

"Then I'm getting you back to your ship," Dave decided. "I'll survive the blast from that machine. You'll die."

"No," Seo said, wrestling herself out of Dave's grip. She was still breathing heavily, her legs wobbly and her eyes looking sunken. "We have to stop this. If that blast gets out of the force field, it won't just encompass this planet. It'll encompass the quarantine zone, too. That's staffed by thousands of patrollers! Both alien and human. We can't let them die."

Dave looked back at the metal prison. "Should have killed him when I had the chance."

"Oh, and is that how your brain is wired?" Seo retorted. "Kill everything… that… isn't…?"

Seo trailed off.

Her brow furrowed in thought.

Then she laughed. Her face breaking out into a wide beam, her eyes shining.

"How your brain is wired!" Seo cried, grabbing him up by the shoulders. "And how _that machine_ is wired. Oh, that's brilliant. That's perfect!"

Dave blinked. "I don't—"

"Ready to believe in miracles, again?" Seo asked, grabbing him up by the hand. "Because I'm about to perform one. And we're off to face the Nestene Consciousness!"


	9. Chapter 9

The lift brought them most of the way down to the basement.

But halted, on the level just below the one they needed.

"How many you think are out there?" said Timmo, charging up his gun.

"Got to be a bunch," said Zed Square.

The doors pinged open.

Revealing a cluster of Autons, all waiting for them.

Alison and Dawn dove for cover.

As the shooting began.

* * *

Seo and Dave ran forwards, towards the noise. The blasts of the energy-pulse guns streaking across their eyes, making them blink and struggle to see.

"All the Autons are facing the other way," Seo said. "Shooting the other way."

Dave looked down at his projectile gun, disgusted. "And this won't do jack against Autons."

Seo didn't answer him.

Instead, she leapt forwards into the sea of Autons, waving her arms, shouting at the top of her lungs, "Yoo hoo! Hello! Autons! Over here! I have a ship, can get you all away!"

Dave shifted his aim.

"You, on the other hand…" Dave said, pointing it straight at Seo. His lips in a deep frown. He shook his head. "And I really thought I could trust you."

The Autons stopped shooting.

Swiveled around to turn to Seo, gun barrels all trained on her.

And, from just beyond her — Dave could hear the sounds of familiar voices. The shots of familiar energy guns.

"You're desperate to escape," said Seo, evenly, "but I won't help you unless you let my friends go. All of them."

Dave lowered his own pistol.

Still weary, but… maybe… willing to believe her just a little. Willing to think she might have something up her sleeve, to get them all out of this alive. Every single one of them.

Zed Square and Timmo gave angry shouts, as they were ushered forwards, stripped of guns and hostile-tech. Alison and Dawn just behind them.

Alison and Dawn seemed overjoyed to see Seo.

"See?" Alison said to Timmo and Zed Square. "What did I tell you? He worked out Seo wasn't an Auton, and was protecting her. That's all!"

"And turned us over to the Autons," Timmo said. Struggling to release himself from their grip. "What the hell have you done, Dave?!"

Seo gave a sharp whistle, to get all their attentions.

Everyone fell silent, around her.

"The man you've come to rescue," said Seo, turning to Timmo and Zed Square, "is Professor Gordon Trinch."

Dawn swore, loudly.

"You know him?" Alison asked.

"Yeah, he's a professor at the University of Total Psychopaths," Dawn muttered. "Major nutcase."

Alison snapped her fingers. "The UTP! _That's_ the university I forgot to put on my wish list!"

"Don't care who he is," said Zed Square, as he kept struggling. "Just know he's gotta be worth something, if we're—"

"Seo's right," said Dave, stepping forwards. Gun lowered. "Trinch lured the Autons to this planet, wiping out everyone who lived here — in order to test out his latest weapon. A consciousness destroyer, which will burn out the minds of anyone who isn't a pure-blood human."

Zed Square and Timmo both stopped struggling.

"We all know what's been going on out there," said Dave. "On other planets. We all know what happens in the wake of the chevauchéers. Who the human settlers wind up settling down with, in the end."

"He's killing kids," said Timmo. "Everyone that nutcase is going to wipe out… they're all kids!"

"Hey, he's gonna wipe out the Nestene Consciousness, too," said Zed Square. "And any alien threat nearby."

"To hell with that!" shouted Timmo. "It's the Third Great Baby Boom, out there! And 58% of those kids are half-breeds. He's gonna slaughter half the kids in the Empire!"

Dave nodded. "Exactly."

Alison nodded, slowly. "So… when humanity starts colonizing outer space," she confirmed, " _this_ is what we do? Get it on with aliens?"

"Judging by the number of weird alien fetish sites on the internet," said Dawn, "I believe it."

"Problem is," Seo interrupted, "when Dave and I discovered this, we wound up getting rid of most of the protective layers around Trinch's prison. The consciousness-destroying pulse has expanded past the faraday cage. The only thing holding it back, now, is a lash-up force field."

"One that's fading pretty quickly," Dave added.

"Baby booming with aliens," Alison muttered. "The human race needs a cold shower or something."

"You've met Jack," Dawn pointed out. "By his time, we massively get our flirt on. With anything and anyone."

Seo shushed Dawn and Alison, fiercely.

Then turned back to the Autons. "So… what are you waiting for?" Seo demanded. Hands on her hips. "We're your prisoners! Take us to your leader, already!"

* * *

They were all herded towards the Nestene Consciousness. A great big, oozing vat of plastic, twisting and writhing in a gigantic tub beneath their feet.

Alison made a disgusted face.

Seo stepped forwards, unafraid. Well, course she was unafraid — no way the Nestene Consciousness was more terrifying than the super-pulse-weapon that was about to fry her brain!

"Hello!" said Seo. "I'm Seo. I noticed you were in a bit of trouble, here."

The Nestene Consciousness writhed. Then began to speak, a rush of alien words pouring out of it. Seo frowned, unable to understand.

"Sorry," said Seo. "I don't speak… Consciousness-ese. Do you speak English?"

"The Consciousness," one of the shopkeepers translated, stepping forwards, "is aware that _you_ were the one who released the organic prisoner in the first place. _You_ are the enemy."

"Yes, I know we made a mistake," said Seo. "I'm trying to correct that, now." Shot the Nestene Consciousness a pointed look. "And if that pulse hits me, I'll be every bit as dead as you."

The Nestene Consciousness seemed to think this over, a little.

Then gave another groan of alien language.

"You must bond with the Consciousness," the shopkeeper translated. "You will pilot your ship and take us away from here."

"Oh, don't merge with me!" said Seo. She pointed her thumb back at Dave. "Merge with _him_."

Dave had his gun out, again, instantly. And aimed it right at Seo.

He didn't shoot.

But his eyes were dark and glaring.

"Not the way you were intending, of course," Seo continued. "That'd be useless. But Trinch's machine was build based on Dave's brain patterns. His brainwaves. If we use his mind… we can cancel out the field."

"That wouldn't work," said the shopkeeper. "The pulse would be unaffected by a brain as small as his."

Seo waggled her finger at the shopkeeper. "Unless," she countered, "his brainwaves were part of a telepathic network projected across every plastic polymer on this planet."

The Nestene Consciousness went quiet.

So did the shopkeeper.

"What do you think?" said Seo.

"You are asking the Nestene Consciousness," the shopkeeper confirmed, "to… give up part of its own control… to this human mind?"

Seo shrugged. "That was the idea."

Dave lowered his gun.

But kept a firm grip on it. Not sure what to believe, or who to trust.

"He could destroy the Consciousness," said the shopkeeper.

"Yes, and you could also destroy him," Seo agreed. A sideways smile on her face. "But it's not really in either of your best interests to do that, is it? Both of you are needed to cancel out the weapon and protect your own kind."

"And the humans?" said the shopkeeper.

"Are needed to take down the force-field at exactly the right moment," Seo replied, "to cancel out the wave patterns. And deal with Professor Trinch and his machine. They're the only ones immune to the pulse, after all." She bounced on her toes. "So. What do you think?"

"No," said Dave.

Seo and the others turned to him.

"You said you wouldn't double-cross me," Dave said, his voice low, as he advanced on Seo. "Liar. Manipulator. You're as bad as all the—!"

Seo put a hand on Dave's arm.

Looked deep into his eyes.

"Trust me," she said, softly.

Dave didn't move. His stern, cold expression never wavering.

"I trust no one," said Dave. "That's why I've stayed alive."

"And why you've stayed alone," Seo countered.

Dave didn't answer.

"Please," Seo said. "You can save hundreds of lives. Maybe even thousands! Maybe more than that. But you have to take a risk. You have to trust somebody."

"Trust a monster like the Nestene Consciousness?" Dave scoffed. "It'd destroy humanity without a second thought. It's tried to do so before."

"Not it." Seo's eyes intensified. Sparkling. " _Me_."

He looked down at her for a long time.

Just the two of them, staring into one another's eyes, just the two of them in a whirlwind of time and terror and danger. Dave and Seo.

Then Dave stepped back.

And accepted his fate.

"Right, then!" said Seo, with a smile. "Aunt Dawn, Timmo, Zed Square, you're off to—"

The Autons surged forwards, grabbing back the humans and restraining them.

The Nestene Consciousness gurgled, below them.

"The Consciousness requires hostages," said the shopkeeper. "To make sure you don't trick it into killing itself. We do not trust the organic you call… 'Dave'."

"Well, looks like everyone's having trust issues, today," Seo muttered.

Timmo stopped struggling. Gave a sharp, slightly uneasy laugh. "Sounds like that's my cue."

The others looked at him.

"My mother wasn't exactly… human," said Timmo. "If you get my drift. If I went down to deal with Trinch, I wouldn't survive that pulse, either."

The Autons secured Timmo, carrying him off.

"Zed Square, D-man," said Timmo, nodding at them as he was led away. "Make humanity proud."

Then those restraining Alison began to leave, as well.

Alison shouting and struggling against the Autons, trying to get free.

"Him, and one other," the shopkeeper translated for the Nestene Consciousness. "One to ensure the cooperation of the organic 'Dave', and the other to ensure the cooperation of the organic 'Seo'."

"I need Alison with me," Seo argued. "To build the interface that'll allow the brainwaves to cancel out the pulse beam. She's the computer expert."

Alison looked at Seo, a little oddly.

Sure, she could program computers, back in the 21st century, but this was the future! Who knew what they programmed in at this point?

Seo shot her that familiar-Seo-smile that meant she had a plan up her sleeve.

And Alison grinned, back.

"Yep," said Alison. "Course Seo needs me. I'm more brilliant with numbers than the Count on Sesame Street."

"You can feel free to point weapons at her, though, while she's working," Seo offered.

"Oi!" snapped Alison.

The Nestene Consciousness calmed down, at this suggestion. The shopkeeper's gun-hand dropping, trained directly on Alison, as she was released.

"Thanks, Seo," Alison muttered, hands raised in the air. "Because I haven't been threatened with enough guns, today."

"And you can trust Aunt Dawn and Zed Square to disable the force-field," Seo continued. Tucking some hair behind her ear. "Zed Square's the one with the technical skills we need. And Dawn's my aunt. My family. She won't let me get killed."

The Nestene Consciousness seemed to consider this.

Then began to speak, again.

"The Consciousness recognizes the term 'aunt'," said the shopkeeper. "It knows the term as an indication of familial relation between two independent organic bodies. A protective bond. It agrees that these two organics will be the ones to take down the force field."

"Can you stop calling me 'organic'?" said Dawn. "I mean, geeze! You make me sound like a vegetable."

"In that case," said Seo, clapping her hands, "I think it's about time we got on with the plan. Don't you?"


	10. Chapter 10

In no time, Seo, Dave, and Alison had assembled and constructed the equipment she'd needed. Adapted from some bits and bobs that had already been lying around the basement of this shopping mall, presumably to let a human being interface with the shopping mainframe.

The comms crackled.

"We've reached the dome," said Zed Square's voice. "You're right. Already starting to fail. We can see it."

"It's all lightningy and weird," came Dawn's voice.

Seo turned to Dave. Who was standing beside the harness that had been created, specifically, so that Dave could be lowered into the essence of the Nestene consciousness. He hooked up the last few bits of wires and things into the entry-ports around the harness.

Alison was on the other side of the machinery. Checking readings and output settings. "I'm set over here!" she called to them.

Seo looked at Dave. "You all right with this?"

Dave wasn't.

That was plain to anyone, simply from looking at him.

He glanced over at her. Hesitant. His face almost… confused. As he studied her, carefully. "Guess I'm just a sucker for a knockout beauty," he muttered.

"You think I'm a knockout beauty?" said Seo. "What, really?"

Dave didn't answer that.

"One thing I need to know… before I go in," Dave said. His voice lowering to a whisper. "Is Alison… my sister?"

Seo blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"My older sister — I don't remember that much about her," said Dave. "Barely know how she looked. I always assumed… she'd been killed, during the invasion. She wasn't with the other slaves, at the Rechortia. But…" His eyes flicked over to Alison. "She looks familiar. Like… a memory I've almost forgotten."

Seo looked between the two.

Then grimaced.

And told Dave the truth.

"Alison's from the twenty-first century," said Seo. "We're time travelers. She's not your sister — more like… your Great-Aunt. Or Great-Great-however-many-Greats Aunt. Depending on how many generations are between her five-year-old David Korjensky, and the David Korjensky that was your grandfather."

Dave didn't answer.

"If your sister's still alive," said Seo, "I can try to find her. Promise. But… it's not Alison. I'm sorry. Her brother David… well, he doesn't even look like you."

Dave nodded, slowly.

"You… don't believe me, do you?" Seo asked. Shaking her head. "Time travel's a bit hard to wrap your head around."

"I don't know what I believe," said Dave, turning back to Seo. "Or why." He stepped into the harness, doing up all the cables and making all the connections. "But you're right about one thing. After we crashed… when every child in the Pachoran Slave Cluster started turning on each other — I tried to stop it. I wanted to stop it."

Seo gave a little smile.

Dave tossed her his last gun. Then raised up his hands, completely without weapons for the first time since he'd escaped from the Rechortia.

"So go on," said Dave. "I'm trusting you. Now lower me down."

* * *

"And they keep coming," sneered a voice behind them.

Dawn and Zed Square turned around.

Dawn's eyes narrowing, as she recognized the person behind her. Remembered him from their last encounter, when he'd taken the term "total wacko" to new limits.

"More flashes from my past," said Professor Trinch, from behind the force-field. He was clutching his side, which dripped with blood, as he staggered forwards, giving them a shaky laugh. "Shame the pulse won't kill you, too, Dawn. I'll have to get the boy, here, to do that for me."

"Yeah, no offense," said Zed Square, "but I don't take your orders. And kill her? Hey, she's hotter than you." He shot Dawn a grin. "And she looks damn foxy in the nude."

Dawn smacked him on the arm.

"But you are loyal to your species," said Trinch. "You've seen the state of Earth Empire. If I don't step in, who will protect us from the monsters? How long before the entire Empire falls apart, our people hauled off by aliens en masse and used as slaves?"

Zed Square faltered, at that.

The comms crackled.

"Almost ready on this side," came Seo's voice, through the speakers. "Get ready to disable the force-field, on the count of three."

Zed Square was frozen.

His hand on the lever.

But unwilling to pull it.

"There's no one left to wipe out the monsters," said Trinch. "No one to keep out the invaders. The military is a joke. You ready to let humanity be crushed by the Nestenes?"

"One…" said Seo, through the comms.

"You're trying to kill tons of humans, too, Trinch!" Dawn shouted.

Zed Square wasn't listening to her, though.

"Two…" Seo counted.

"He kept the Nestene at bay," Zed Square realized. Taking his hand off the lever. "Kept it scared. Moment we cancel out his machine… it'll invade. Take over. Wipe us out."

"Three!" said Seo.

"Oh, screw you!" Dawn shoved Zed Square out of the way, and grabbed up the lever. "There!"

Yanked it down, as hard as she could.

* * *

Dave felt himself drowning.

Couldn't see, couldn't feel his own body. He was spread thin, could see through every bit of plastic around, could feel it all tingling through him.

And that Consciousness…

Swirling around him, dwarfing him, threatening to tear him to pieces — only just held at bay by the equipment Seo had constructed for him.

It was like Dave was a child, again. Like he was back to staring out and realizing that the monsters were tearing down the door, killing everyone, and he didn't know what to do.

Or like being age 12, stranded on that alien landscape, trying desperately to stop everyone from killing one another, even as the forces and antipathy around him grew out of his control, and everyone began screaming and dying and murdering…

No.

Stay strong.

He would. He must. He wasn't 'D-man', wasn't 'D', wasn't Dave — he was David Walter Korjensky III, and he _wanted_ to believe in miracles.

"It's coming," David said. Feeling the power buildup tingling and beginning to sear the plastic polymers under his control. "The pulse blast."

He was prepared.

As the consciousness-destroying pulse burst out of the force-field, and surged forwards.

* * *

"Everything's stable over here!" said Seo. "Cancellation field seems to be working."

"Life signs stable for Dave," Alison confirmed, from her machine banks. Then, with a small snicker, "Your fancy-man."

Seo didn't look up. "Don't know what you mean."

"It's sweet!" said Alison. "You've fallen for a soldier-boy from the future! Try that on for a holiday!"

Seo, in order to avoid responding to Alison, turned back to the comms equipment. "Cancellation field is in effect," Seo reported in. Holding the comms to her mouth, to order around her aunt. "Now get those Autons in there and destroy that machinery, Aunt Dawn, before Dave's mind gives out under the strain!"

The comms didn't respond.

"Aunt Dawn?" Seo said.

Still, no answer.

"The Autons around the force field," said the shopkeeper, translating for the Nestene Consciousness. "They have been vaporized. The organics have betrayed us."

Alison and Seo looked at one another. Realizing… they were in very big trouble.

* * *

"You maniac!" shouted Dawn, trying to wrestle her way out of Zed Square's grip. "Don't trust Trinch! He's nuts!"

She was shoved inside a metal cage, meshed around what looked like it used to be a furnace.

And shut up, within it.

Trinch, meanwhile, was finishing off the last of the Autons using Zed-Square's blaster gun.

"He's unhinged, sure," said Zed Square. "But your niece is handing over control of everything to the Nestenes. Think I wanna let that happen?"

"The last time Seo and I faced this Trinch guy, he was using humans as lab rats to test alien viruses!" Dawn shouted. "He doesn't care about humanity! He doesn't care about anyone except himself. He'll turn against you in a second!"

"Earth Central might be a joke," Zed Square said, with a shrug. "But I won't betray humanity. Not even for someone good-looking as you." He turned back to Trinch. "What now?"

"They're using David's brain to counter the field?" Trinch asked. "Filtered through the Nestene Consciousness?" He was still breathing heavily. But his side — where Dave had shot him — had stopped bleeding, since Zed Square's injection a short while ago. He gestured back towards the dome. "I can manipulate the frequencies. Get around it."

"Right behind you," said Zed Square. "Let's save Dave and the rest of humanity!"

Trinch paused. "Which reminds me." He swung around.

And shot Zed Square full-on, with the vaporizing gun.

Zed Square exploded into white light and vanished before he even had time to scream.

"David's not making it out of here alive," said Trinch. Heading back into the dome. "Not if I can help it."


	11. Chapter 11

"Stay here!" said Seo, racing off. "I need to find Aunt Dawn! Work out why—"

She stopped.

As she found herself face-to-face with a group of Autons, their gun barrels pointed straight at her.

"The Consciousness says you will remain here," said the Autons. "To monitor the machinery that stops the pulse from destroying us all."

"The plan depends on Aunt Dawn and Zed Square destroying Trinch's pulse-generating equipment!" Seo shouted. "If that's been botched, we're back to square one! Moment Dave can't hold on, anymore—"

"Either Dawn _or_ Zed Square, now," Alison corrected. Waved Dave's life sign tracker at Seo. "One of the life signs just vanished. Someone… was killed."

Seo felt a coldness wash over her.

No…

"The Consciousness recognizes an alternate solution," said the shopkeeper. "The organic will only fail because his organic elements fail. The Consciousness will remedy that."

"What?!" Seo cried.

* * *

Dave struggled.

Writhing, trying to fight back, as the Consciousness flooded through him. Trying to infect and consume him. He was so small, compared to it.

Too small to do anything…

Too small to be any possible threat…

"Seo!" he tried to scream, as he was subsumed. Reaching out with everything he had, for his one last desperate hope. "Seo!"

* * *

As Dave screamed out for her…

Seo opened her eyes.

* * *

Across the entire planet, every plastic polymer seemed to jolt — just a little — with a sort of spark.

As the Consciousness consumed Dave.

It only lasted a second. Before they all went back to normal.

* * *

Seo took her advantage.

The moment the Autons all jolted, confused by the sudden change in the Nestene Consciousness, Seo charged past them. Racing off so she could help her aunt.

But the Autons were back to normal in seconds.

They caught her, spun her around.

One of the other Autons pointing a gun directly at her. "The Consciousness sees no further use for you," said the Auton. "We have overcome the threat. We will call others. We will spread."

A squeak from Alison, as she tried to race over to help, but was caught by yet another Auton, nearby.

"You…" said the Auton pointing its gun at Seo. "You… will not…"

It paused.

Seo regarding it, curiously.

"The cancellation field I'm generating only extends outside Trinch's dome," said the Auton. "If you go to help your aunt, you'll die the moment you step inside."

"Right, fine! If Seo can't go, then _I_ will!" Alison said. "Just get your hands off of me!"

Seo, however, was still staring at the Autons.

A small smile spreading across her face.

"You're still alive, aren't you, Dave?" Seo said to the Auton. "They needed your brain intact, to generate the cancelation field. That means… you're still in there. You can speak through the Autons."

"I… the… the…" the Auton seemed to judder in place. Then resumed its previous disinterested tone. "The Consciousness will kill you. You are useless to us, now."

But it didn't shoot.

And Seo knew it wouldn't.

* * *

Dawn frantically tried to figure out some way to unlock this damn cage-thing! After all, it couldn't be _that_ hard, right? There had to be a way to do it!

Except… it _was_ that hard, and there wasn't a lot of time.

The first sign Dawn wasn't alone was the high whine of the energy weapon, striking at the cage, beside her.

Melting the bars in a metallic soup thing.

"You are free," said the Auton. "You will destroy the machine, organic."

"Damn right I will!" shouted Dawn, bursting out of her cage, grabbing up a metal rod, and racing towards the dome. "I'm going to kill that bastard!"

* * *

"Life sign on the move," said Alison, looking down at the tracker. "Whoever that is, they're running to this Professor Trinch of yours very fast."

Seo looked at the Auton directly in front of her. "Is Aunt Dawn still alive?"

The Auton, for a long while, looked like it wouldn't answer. Looked like it would remain mute, never let her know the truth.

"Yes," it said, at last.

"Then let me go," Seo demanded. "I'm no threat to you. And Aunt Dawn's about to take down the pulse-generating equipment. You'll need me to monitor the surge that results from that, and make sure Dave's mind can counter it."

The Autons hesitated.

But let her go.

Seo rushed over, grabbed Alison by the sleeve, yanking her over to the machinery monitoring the cancellation signal.

"We don't have long," Seo muttered, too softly for the Autons nearby to hear. Glanced over her shoulder, at the Nestene Consciousness. "Have to time it just right. Or it won't work."

Alison leaned in. "Clever plan?"

Seo tapped a finger to her lips. Then, with one final glance around herself, whispered, "Do you trust me?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Alison laughed.

Seo nodded. Keeping one eye glued on the readings. Her hand still clutching Alison's arm, tightly. Just waiting… waiting… for that spike…

The monitor spiked, as the pulse-generating equipment fizzled out.

And Seo, using all her strength, flung Alison through the air… so that she tumbled… falling… falling…

And plopped straight down into the vat of the Nestene Consciousness.

* * *

"No!" shouted Professor Trinch, as the machinery around him sparked and fizzled out.

Dawn knelt by the power box, which converted the energy from the generator to the electrical energy type needed to actually power Trinch's machinery. She'd been to the future enough to figure out the markings on the side, and what they meant.

So she'd just started hitting it, until it broke.

"And not even electrocuted!" Dawn said, with a grin. Began doing a little victory dance. "Go Dawn! She's the best! Takes down any evil stuff throughout the universe! No matter what!"

"I'll kill you for this!" Trinch shouted.

And Dawn just barely had time to get out of the way, before the gun beam slammed into what was left of the power converter thingy. Vaporizing it in an instant.

"Okay, so… this thing's definitely a write-off, then," Dawn said. "If you're vaporizing it."

She had her confirmation, as Trinch began to shoot again, indiscriminately, vaporizing whole sections of equipment and even large parts of the outer dome, as he tried to hit Dawn. "I'll kill you and your niece for what you've done to me!" he shrieked. "You ridiculous, miserable—"

"Meddlesome kids?" Dawn offered, ducking out of the way of his next few shots.

Lucky for her, Trinch was a mad scientist, not a marksman.

At this range, he was so far off… she could probably dodge most of his blows with her eyes closed.

He blew a large hole in the side of the dome, then repositioned the gun. "You embody every ounce of moral decay across this empire. Is that what we humans are going to do, heading out across space? Sleep with aliens, and let them infect us with their vile offspring? You and your family make me sick!"

"Works for me!" said Dawn, racing towards the door. "See ya later!"

But she didn't make it.

Before an Auton emerged, in the hole Trinch had blown in the middle of the wall. An Auton… with fair hair, soulful eyes, a face that looked not too dissimilar to Alison's…

"Don't tell Seo," said the Auton shaped like Dave, raising up its gun-arm.

And took one shot.

That hit its mark.

Trinch cried out. Shot right through the chest. His whole body curling in on itself, as he died.

* * *

The Autons, in the chamber with the Nestene Consciousness, advanced on Seo. Now alone, with Alison and Dave both in the vat with the Consciousness. Then… the Autons all stumbled, just a little bit.

All the distraction Seo needed.

She ran, fast as she could.

Actually managed to race out the room, this time, dart down a side-corridor, before…

Seo skittered to a stop. "Ah," she said, raising her hands and slowly backing away. "I… should have expected that."

She tried, frantically, to find another way out… or work out if she could chance just running like hell in the opposite direction… but then paused. And took a second look at what had stopped her.

Crept towards it, squinting at it, reaching out to touch it.

Then her face broke into a wide beam. "Oh!" she said. "Now that I really _couldn't_ have guessed."


	12. Chapter 12

Dawn turned back to the Auton Dave. Its gun-hand closing up. As… all the plastic shine to the Auton seemed to drip away, its skin growing into actual flesh, its eyes darting around in a completely natural organic manner, its hard face growing softer…

"Ha! Look at that!" came a familiar voice, behind him. As Alison clambered into the dome, her own skin also shedding its plastic appearance. She examined her hands. "Didn't think the Barbie-doll look suited me."

Dawn rushed forwards, and grabbed up Alison into a hug.

Then pulled away, looking at the two of them. Examining them, closely.

"Seo did something really smarty-pants, huh?" Dawn guessed. "Like, to make you guys come back to life, and be all organic-skin-stuff, again!"

"Expected nothing less from Seo," said Alison.

Dave didn't answer.

Picked up Zed Square's fallen gun. "It's time to get back to the chamber that houses the Consciousness," he said. "She saved us. Now… we save her."

* * *

"…really _don't_ want to kill me!" Seo was insisting, backed up against the wall, Autons all around her, their guns pointed squarely at her hearts. She was now back in the chamber with the Nestene Consciousness, but in a considerably worse position than she'd been in, before. "Listen, you saw inside Dave's mind! I've got a time machine! I can give it to you! But it only works when _I_ use it."

The Nestene Consciousness gave a garbled reply.

And the Autons stopped their advance.

Seo breathed a sigh of relief.

"The Consciousness saw your claim of time travel in the Dave organic's mind," said the Autons. "But it does not believe you."

Seo swallowed.

"How did you use the organic female to regenerate herself and the organic male?" the Autons demanded. "That is impossible. The organic 'Dave' had already been consumed by the Consciousness."

"Yes, but the Consciousness had also already made a plastic duplicate of him," said Seo. "And of Alison. I worked that one out." She turned to stare straight at the Consciousness. "You were planning to see if I was telling the truth, weren't you? Pretend you were Dave and Alison, get me to take them into my ship, then find out how it worked and steal the secrets of time travel for yourself."

The Nestene Consciousness didn't answer.

Didn't have to.

"So I used your replicas," said Seo. "Added some genetic material overlap from Alison — she _is_ related to Dave, you know. Then channeled that energy surge from Trinch's machine straight into the plastic, to burn away the alien influences from them. Thus turning them completely human."

The Consciousness gurgled.

Then surged in its vat.

"The Consciousness believes you are too clever to remain alive," said the Auton. "You will become a threat to us. You must die."

But it never got the chance to shoot.

As Dawn barreled into its side, shouting and wrestling it to the floor.

"Seo!" said Dawn, leaping to her feet. "You're okay." Calling over her shoulder. "I found her, Timmo!"

Timmo emerged, strolling into the room behind her. Flashed a smile at Seo, as he charged forwards, lashing out with a machete and cutting down the Autons.

"Come on! We've got to go!" Dawn shouted at Seo. Turned on her foot, knocking aside two other Autons, and beginning to run the other way. "I just left Dave and Alison. They're in mega-trouble!"

Seo stayed where she was.

"No."

Dawn slowed. Turned around. "Seo, seriously!" she said. Pointing the direction she was running. "Those Auton things are after Dave and Alison! You can't just—!"

"What the…?!" shouted Dawn's voice, from across the room.

A second Dawn raced inside, staring at her duplicate in amazement, Dave and Alison right beside her.

The real Dawn pointed.

"Seo, that's not me!" she shouted. "It's an—"

"Auton, yes, I figured," Seo replied, calmly. "The Nestene Consciousness duplicated all of us, when we first started helping it. Not just Dave and Alison. But also you, me, Timmo, and Zed Square. So… yes. I worked out, pretty quickly, that this Dawn was an Auton."

The Auton Dawn turned on Seo, making a gesture at Timmo, who lunged at Seo and held a machete to her throat.

"One wrong move…" the Auton Dawn warned.

Seo didn't seem concerned. "But Dave's taking over must have scrambled the Nestene Consciousness pretty substantially," she went on. "Because… its Autons can't tell the obvious, anymore. Don't know who's plastic." Her eyes fixed on Timmo. "And who's real."

"Funny, that," Timmo agreed.

Then hurled his machete straight at the Auton Dawn's face, as the blade embedded itself deep into her plastic expression.

It was all the distraction needed.

Dave, with one shot, vaporized the fake Dawn where she stood.

"I thought you were locked up," Alison pointed out, to Timmo.

Timmo shrugged. "Escaped. Ran into my duplicate. Got rid of him." He shrugged. "Lost my gun somewhere along the way. Figured I better play along, when the Dawn Auton showed up and thought I was plastic."

Dave turned back to the Nestene Consciousness. His gun aimed down at the vat, as he ramped up the power.

Hoping it'd be enough to kill the Consciousness completely.

"Wait!" Seo cried. Racing over to his side.

He hesitated.

But did as she asked.

"Nestene Consciousness," Seo announced, turning to address it. "We'll get you off-world. Get you very far away from here. But if you don't leave, we'll have no choice. We're going to—"

A shot from a nearby Auton flashed.

And Seo cried out, then slumped over, clutching her chest.

"The Nestene Consciousness does not bargain," said the Auton. "It knows you have nothing that can destroy it."

"Which would be a good point," said Seo's voice, as she stepped out from a bit of clustered machinery, to the left of them all, "if the Nestene Consciousness was able to control all its Autons. And wasn't _thick_."

Everyone looked between the two identical Seos.

The one by the machinery, just emerging. And the other keeled over, on the floor beside Dave, the hole in her chest showing nothing but clear, solid plastic through and through.

"I had some words with my Auton duplicate," said Seo. "Turns out, when Dave took over, he made the Auton-Me into the person he thought I was. Not the Auton the Consciousness wanted me to be."

"He thought… I was mentally indestructible," said the Auton-Seo. "Indomitable."

"So when Dave left, my Auton overcame the control of the Nestene Consciousness," Real-Seo confirmed. "And became… well, autonomous. And quite a bit like me. I found her, when I was running away. We had a bit of a chat."

The two smiled at each other.

"Uh… you do realize half of what you said made no sense at all," Dawn pointed out. "Right?"

Both Seos ignored her.

"One last chance," the Real-Seo told the Nestene Consciousness. "Either I take you away. Or you get what's coming to you."

The Autons shifted their aim to the real Seo.

"Don't say we didn't warn you," rasped the Auton-Seo.

And with a heave, she threw herself over the edge. Straight into the vat of the Nestene Consciousness.

The whole vat swelled and screamed, all the Autons jerking around sporadically in response. The vat rapidly began shifting colors, and everyone else in the room — everyone not made of plastic — huddled together, trying to work out what was going on.

Then it all quieted down.

And the Autons slumped over, lifeless.

Seo sprung forwards, racing towards the vat. "Hello? Hello down there!"

"This is… odd," came the voice of the Nestene Consciousness. "Extremely odd. Is this what it's always going to feel like?"

"Not sure," said Seo. "I've never been living plastic, before." She knelt down at the edge, speaking directly into the vat. "You succeeded, then? Supplanted him?"

The Consciousness chuckled. "Indomitable, remember? That's how Dave made me."

One of the nearby Autons began to twitch. Jerking into life, like a puppet on strings.

"Oh, look at that!" said the Nestene Consciousness. "I can manipulate anything plastic, anywhere!"

The Auton began to give a very rough interpretation of an Irish tap-dance, then bowed, at the end.

"This is brilliant!" said the Nestene Consciousness. "If I control all plastic, I can have a full Broadway cast at no extra cost! Singing, dancing, chorus lines — all thanks to me! And if the audience is a bit thin for a night or two, I'll just build my own audience! Get some Autons to sit in the seats and laugh at all the really funny bits."

Seo turned back to the others. "I don't think we'll have to worry about the Nestene Consciousness escaping this world, anymore. She seems pretty happy where she is."

"Or I could start my own chocolate factory!" said the Nestene Consciousness, as the Auton clapped its hands in glee. "Like Willy Wonka, except run by plastic people instead of Oompa-Loompas!"

Alison and Dawn exchanged looks.

Then giggled.

"Nestene Seo," said Dawn.

"How will the universe survive the chocolate barrage and general goofiness that is to follow?" Alison agreed.


	13. Chapter 13

"I never thought… anything like this could happen," Dave admitted, as they walked back to Seo's ship.

All around them, the Autons were slowly waking up. Each opening up its gun-arm, and letting the one beside it dismantle the gun inside.

"You made it happen," Seo pointed out. "You recreated me."

For a few seconds, neither said anything.

"You've… guessed how it happened," Dave muttered.

Yes, Seo had.

At the very point when the Consciousness had consumed him, he'd wished for her. Believed in her. So much so… that he'd accidentally made a duplicate.

"You must be a teensy bit more telepathic than you thought," Seo replied. "Whatever you put into the plastic-Seo's head, it's far more me than you could possibly know, from such a short acquaintance."

"I knew enough," said Dave.

He caught her by the hand, and turned her around to face him.

Then, before Seo had a chance to react, he pulled her close. And kissed her. Deeply.

When they pulled out of the kiss, Alison and Dawn were cheering from the sidelines.

"I have to go," Seo said, her face going red, as she stumbled away from him. "It's… my mom. She's sick. I have to get back to her."

"Will I see you again?" said Dave.

Seo opened up her ship. Ushering her friends inside. "Oh, yes," she said. Grinned. "Trust me."

Then closed the door to her ship.

And Dave and Timmo watched, astounded, as it disappeared from sight.

* * *

Epilogue

* * *

Buffy had trouble sleeping, as the headaches got worse.

Began to toss and turn in her bed, giving soft groans. Her body sometimes convulsing, as she slept.

Seo sat beside her.

Unsure what to do.

"I'm going to find a way to make you better," Seo said. "I promise. I… I'll perform a miracle!"

Another groan, and another thrash.

"Trust me," Seo whispered.

And wondered… if she trusted herself.

* * *

The End

* * *

Coming up next... "The Ten Seos."

(Please accept these excerpts as a preview)

* * *

"She could use the rings to establish a link to you," Boe proposed. "To save herself. She knows that. She'd do it."

"Not if it means admitting she's wrong, she won't," Jenny replied. Frowned, as she twisted the ring around her finger, concentrating on it. "Besides. It feels almost like… she's using its psychic energy for something else…"

The machinery whirred into life, again — this time at the far end of the room. Jenny sprung towards the alerts and flashing lights. Pressed a button, and stared at the readout.

"…something like that," Jenny breathed.

Boe leaned over Jenny's shoulder.

And swore.

"She's finally done it," Jenny said. Her eyes on the readout. "What she's been doing to everyone else — screwing with their personal timelines, altering history without caring about the consequences — she's finally doing it to _herself_."

"Nine times over," Boe agreed. He swore again. "The idiot! Doesn't she know the risks?" He brushed a hand through his white hair. "No, don't answer that. Stupid question."

* * *

The First Seo spun around, just in time to see the second warrior, whom she hadn't noticed, bringing down his smoke-scimitar upon her head…

But he was stopped as a hand caught his single arm, and shoved him around.

The woman he now faced looked… human. Two arms, two legs. Just like Seo. But taller, with frizzy red hair.

She ducked the warrior's next advance, dancing to avoid kicks from his legs, then darted in at the last minute, grabbed him up by the torso, and twisted him around so he flipped, head-over-heels, through the air. Scimitar flying from his hands.

The redhead turned to Seo. Grabbed her by the wrist. "We have to go," she said, in a crisp English accent.

"What…?" said Seo — because a part of her knew who this was, and didn't want to believe it.

"Yes, yes, it's a philosophical impossibility!" the redhead replied. "We'll deal with that later. Right now, we have to get out of here. The third's keeping the gate open for us."

"Third?" Seo cried, as they began to run. "There are three of—?!"

"Yes," said the woman. She tugged Seo along so they ran even faster. "Hurry up, or we'll…!"

They were interrupted by the warrior who'd first assaulted Seo. He sprinted forwards, his face a sneer, his single arm thrusting the scimitar at the blond girl.

Seo shrieked, ducking out of the way at the last second, but the edges of the smoke seared as they touched her scalp.

The pain made her stumble, and she lost her grip on the redhead's arm. Was tugged backwards as if by a supernatural force — or by something she didn't understand, at least. Found herself towered over by the warrior, once more.

"One thousand lives to be lost!" he shouted. "One thousand be the cost! A thousand years, a thousand pains, a thousand cheers, a thousand—"

"Hey, Shakespeare!" shouted an American voice from not far off. "Try this for a rhyming dictionary!"

The warrior looked up.

And was struck, right in the face, by a hard-cover anthology of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare.

* * *

"You're not angry at me because of my sexuality, right?" Seven checked. Gave a cheeky grin that lit up her face. "Because… got to tell you. If there was any incarnation of me that I'd like to snog — it wouldn't be you."

"It doesn't have to do with that," Eight retorted.

But Seven was already off in a world of her own. Reflecting. "I think… well, Fifth Me, obviously," Seven said. "She's a looker. Rowr!"

Eight _didn't_ want to be having this conversation.

"Two, also," Seven decided. "Because she's cute, and a snog would shut her up. Also, nice hair. We never did become ginger again, did we?"

Eight pushed past her, and made her way to the center of the time distortion.

"Six and One would be nice, too," Seven decided. "Since they're blond. I've got a thing for blonds, this time." Her grin widened. "Like Stacy and Tim. Adorable!"

"Could you please stop talking about which versions of ourselves you most want to snog," Eight cut in, swinging around, "and get on with saving this planet?" She sighed. "Honestly. Just because Jack's changed doesn't mean you have to take his place as the flirtatious bisexual."

"You're just jealous," Seven said, with a wink.

* * *

"No closer, or I fire," the Ninth Seo warned, drawing out a gun.

Peri put up her hands, instinctively. Then paused. Squinted. "Wait, that's a water-gun!"

"Let me put it this way," Seo replied, hand on her hip. "I've got a water-pistol full of the worst-staining wine you could imagine. And you're wearing a white designer jacket." She raised the gun higher, finger on the trigger. "One move in the wrong place, and you'll have a laundry-disaster on your hands."

Peri backed away from the Doctor. "Okay. Okay! I'm complying."


End file.
